


Bridging The Gap

by danidaze



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Avengers Family, Deaf Clint Barton, Domestic Avengers, Foster Care, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Bruce Banner, Kid Bucky Barnes, Kid Clint Barton, Kid Fic, Kid Natasha Romanov, Kid Pepper Potts, Kid Steve Rogers, Kid Thor (Marvel), Kid Tony Stark, Past Child Abuse, Team as Family, young avengers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-04-22 23:21:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 44,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22221988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danidaze/pseuds/danidaze
Summary: Clint has a tough life.Not everyone thinks he needs to do it on his own.Only problem is convincing him that.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton & Phil Coulson, James "Bucky" Barnes & Clint Barton
Comments: 77
Kudos: 507





	1. Chapter 1

Clint knows he hasn’t lived a conventional life.

From the gruesome death of his parents when he was six, leaving him with severe hearing loss. To being thrown into eight foster homes with his older brother Barney in a span of four years. To then running away from their final foster home when Clint was 10 and Barney was 16, and living on the streets for two years doing what CPS still has yet to learn. Clint’s sure if Barney hadn’t gotten arrested for beating up some guy outside of a bar the two of them would have never gotten caught– or well Clint wouldn’t have because Barney was already out of the system at that point.

Yet, unfortunately Barney’s arrest got Clint’s name brought back up at CPS and soon his photo was once again in the hands of all local precincts, bodegas, and even featured on the nightly news. Which is how the boy found himself being manhandles into the back of a cop car just two and a half weeks after his brother’s arrest.

Barney would laugh at his younger brother’s inability to remain uncaught.

So now, Clint sat behind someone’s desk at one of the local precincts. Right hand handcuffed to the desk after trying to make a run for it three times. And having been threatened to have his left hand cuffed as well if he didn’t stop launching pencils and pens at anyone who got near him. The boy decided he may as well listen now because Barney always told him if he got caught that playing up his innocence is his biggest playing card. So the boy sat slouched in the swivel chair, gently kicking his legs back and forth, with– what he would never call– a pout on his face.

“Yeah, I mean, he’s been fine. Put up a fight ___ the car, and then tried ___couple times once we got him ___ hasn’t hurt anyone,” Clint can partially hear one of the officers who had brought him in say over the staticness of his old hearing aids to an unseen figure.

“Is he hurt?” he makes out is the response coming from a much deeper and rougher voice.

More people walk into the precinct as the officer replies so Clint can’t catch what the voices are saying, but it didn’t seem to matter because soon enough the officer is stood in front of him with a tall, serious looking man who Clint hopes– but know– isn’t his new social worker.

“Mr. Clinton Barton. Born June 18, 2007 in Waverly, Iowa to Edith and Harold Barton,” the man says in a gruff voice that has Clint cowering if only slightly.

“Yeah, maybe,” he replies while rubbing the wrist that is currently cuffed up.

“Maybe, huh? Well, if you were Clinton Barton I could get this officer to uncuff you. Maybe get you something to eat and drink,” the man levels as he pulls a chair up so that he can now be more at level with the boy.

Clint thinks about the offer. He knows eventually they’ll confirm he is Clint. Whether through fingerprints or facial analysis. It’s just a matter of doing this the long way or the fast way. The grumble in his stomach seems to make the decision for him though as he whispers out that _ yes, I’m Clint Barton _.

True to the man’s words, Clint is uncuffed– only after a brief warning that he would be restrained again if he tries to run or hurt anyone– and led to a conference room where a sandwich, bag of chips, and water bottle was waiting for him. The tall man allowed the boy to get a couple bites of his sandwich in before he decided to start talking.

“So, Clint, you’re a hard man to find,” the man begins. “A lot of people have been trying to find you for a long time now. All the way from Iowa to New York and everywhere in between.”

“Thank you,” the boy says with just a small smirk before continuing to devour his sandwich– his first full meal since Barney had been caught.

“My name’s Nick Fury, I’m a social worker for child protective services here in New York. More specifically I am _ your _ social worker now,” the man now known as Nick says. “Your name has been on my wall for just about two years now, so believe me when I say it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Don’t know if the pleasure is given back,” Clint mumbles now done with his sandwich. “So what happens now? Get sent back to Iowa? Juvie?”

“Group home,” Nick says with what Clint would deem as smugness if his hearing aids didn’t keep spiking randomly.

“Thought group homes didn’t take kids who ran away?”

“Most can’t, but some do. Ones run by counselors who are able to keep a closer eye on the kids. And luckily for you I’ve got one already lined up for you to get settled into.”

“Yippee,” Clint says only looking scared for a brief moment before going back to his neutral face.

“Hey, look at me,” Nick says, only waiting for Clint to lock eyes with him before continuing. “I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but I’ve seen your file. I can tell the foster system wasn’t fair to you even if it’s not explicitly stated, but this is better than being on your own in the streets. You’ll get food. Have a bed. A shower. It’s better than the streets.”

“Whatever you say.”

* * *

Clint remains quiet the entire drive to the group home. He does pay attention to where they’re headed the entire way though. Even though he’s lived in New York for two years, him and Barney tended to stay in the same area the entire time, so he never really learned the streets and boroughs. So now he needs to make sure he knows where he’s going to be _ just _in case this home turns out like all the others and he needs to come up with his own escape plan.

Soon enough, the car comes to a halt in a residential neighborhood right outside what looks to be a normal house. There’s not gates on the windows, or even a gate surrounding the house. The paint and wood porch doesn’t look ready to rot away. Overall, it looks like a house you would find a family of four living in. Well except for the sign out front that says _ Bridging the Gap Group Home _. 

“Come on, Barton. It’s getting late and we need to tell you the rules and expectations,” Nick says from the porch of the house.

Clint looks at the man with an incredulous look. There’s about 15 yards between the two, and Clint’s a fast runner. He knows he could easily book it down the road, outrun the car for a bit by running through backyards, but for some reason he chooses to walk towards the man rather than away.  
“Good choice,” Nick states without looking at the boy before knocking on the door.

There’s talking behind the door, Clint can tell, but he can’t actually put together what’s being said. There’s too many voices and they’re all loud, and his old hearing aids just aren’t equipped to pick up what each of them is saying. He can’t really tell what’s going on until he feels a hand clap on his shoulder followed by a loud voice.  
“Phil, meet the infamous Clint Barton,” Nick says as he lightly guides the boy into the house, where the noise only intensifies.

“Hi Clint, it’s nice to finally meet you. My name’s Phil Coulson,” the man says with a smile, expecting the boy to at the very least acknowledge him, however, all he’s met with is the boy twisting his head into his shoulder as he rubs at his ear.

Phil gives the boy as well as Nick a curious look before noticing the hearing aids preset behind the boy’s ears. Quick to realize the boy can’t determine all the noises in the room he signals for Nick to bring him into his office. Once the three were away from the noise, both men notice the look of relief on Clint’s face before starting the interaction again.

“Hello Clint, my name’s Phil Coulson, and I’m one of the heads of the group home,” Phil says while signaling for the boy to sit.

“M’Clint,” the boy states, looking uninterested.

“I’m a counselor as well as social worker as is Maria Hill, who’s my second in command. We have other staffers who are counselors or in school for social work, and you’ll meet them over time.”

“Cool,” the boy says uninterested once again before reaching forward to grab a pen off the man’s desk, hesitating just a second to see if he’s going to be stopped.

“Clint,” Nick is the one that speaks up this time while giving the boy a raised brow. “I don’t think you realize we’re giving you an opportunity here.”

The boy gives a raised brow back with an unimpressed look.

“Let me help Nick out here, yeah?” Phil speaks up again. “While we are a group home, we’re not the group home that I think you heard horror stories about in your other foster homes. We’re like the halfway home between fostering and group homes.”

At the explanation Clint looked up at the two with a confused expression.

“You do get freedoms here, Clint. Maybe not right now because there is a level of trust that needs to be built, but eventually you do get freedom. You will go to a real school eventually, and can go out on weekends, and do everything normal kids do,” Phil explains. “Because you ran away from your last home the state isn’t able to put you back in another home, but we also don’t think that means you need to be living under 24/7 superveillance.

“The point here is that we get to monitor as well as help you through turmoils you may find yourself in. Past, present, or future. You’ll get to have all the freedoms in the world, there’s just a precautionary level in case one day you have a bad day,” Phil finishes up his little spiel, and while Clint does give him credit for his attempt at genuineness, the boy doesn’t fully buy it.

“Okay I get it. Am I supposed to get rules now or something?” Clint says with a sigh and roll of the eyes.

“In fact you are,” Phil says, stature not changing a bit. “First off, tomorrow we’ll be getting a physical done to examine any previous injuries, your nutrition levels, fixing your hearing aids, as well as a general exam. Based on that there will be varying rules. You also won’t be going to school for a bit until we feel like it’ll be an environment you’ll be able to thrive in. You will be having lessons here, though, so don’t think you’ll be doing nothing. 

“You’ll be sharing a room, and we do trust you to have doors here, however, all employees have the right to randomly search your room. Mealtimes are a mandatory check in period, and there’s a bulletin by the stairs that gives the time for meals as well as what we’ll be having. As you gain our trust you earn more freedoms, but for now you will be confined to the house for more time than I think you would like. Everyone here has a personal counselor that they do one on ones with outside of the group sessions, and you’ve been assigned under me. So based on that, though, we can work out ways that we can potentially leave the house if I think it’s something that’ll benefit your progress.”

“Anything else, Officer Coulson?” Clint says with a roll of his eyes.

“Clint, trust me when I say this is much better than any other group home you could be put in let alone juvie. I’m hoping you put in an effort to make this work,” Nick says with a raised brow to which he’s given a glare back in return.

Clint can see Phil and Nick having a quiet conversation between the two of them, and normally he’d get mad at people using his hearing against him but he really couldn’t care less at this moment. All he knows is that he’s back in the system after two years, and the last time he was in a house like this...well, let’s just say his memories of the streets are more positive.

“Clint did you hear me?” The boy is shook out of his thoughts by Nick’s hand being placed on his shoulder– to which he only flinches minimally. “I said I’m leaving, Clint. I’ll be back next Sunday to check in on you and get a progress report from Phil and the other counselors. Behave.”

And with that Clint is left in Phil’s office alongside the man who’s giving him a small smile before being guided out of the quiet room and back into the noise where eight people were currently sat around a TV or at a table working on what he can only assume is homework.

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Clint, the newest member of our house,” Phil says after getting everyone to quiet down.

The boy is met by mainly blank stares of uninterest along with one or two waves.

“Like I said to you all in group earlier today, we’ll have a bit of a longer group session tomorrow since we need to do an introduction as well as explain the living-learning rules and expectations that you all have come up with. For now, please make him feel welcomed,” Phil says with a clap of his hands. “Alright, Natasha, Tony, and Pepper, your lights out call is coming up, so Tash and Pep finish up your homework and Tony you go shower. Clint, your light’s out call would have been signalled by now, so let’s go show you where the showers are and then you’ll be going to bed.”

Clint sees three people roll their eyes as they begin to shuffle around, so he assumes those must be the three names he called. He can’t help but send a glare up towards Phil though for basically putting a “pick on me” target on his back with the whole _ your lights out call already signaled _ clearly showing the house he’s the youngest. The man either doesn’t notice the glare or doesn’t care as he guides Clint up the stairs. They approach a hall closet that Phil is quick to unlock where he hands Clint a shower caddy. As the boy holds it, Phil places in a bottle of shampoo, conditioner, wash cloth, and a bar of soap. Alongside that, a toothbrush is given to him with a tube of toothpaste and a cartridge of floss. He’s then finally given a towel before being guided down the hall and into a room where he can hear water running as well as feel the moisture in the air already.

“Occupado!” Clint hears a voice shout from behind one of the three shower curtains in the room.

“Funny, Tony,” Phil says back as he guides Clint further into the bathroom. “So we have two communal bathrooms here– one for the girls and one for the boys– as well as a private one in the hall that acts more as priviledge or reward. Typically the younger boys shower at night where the older ones shower in the morning. This isn’t a set in stone rule, but we try to abide by it seeing as there are only three showers and mornings can be hectic. You can leave your caddy here after you shower. I’ll leave some pajamas on the bed in your room which is going to be the third door on the right.”

Phil waits for a brief nod before he’s leaving the bathroom, and Clint’s quick to make his way into a stall. The boy hesitates removing his clothes and starting the water for a moment because he can hear Tony still in the shower, and he knows he needs to take his aids out if he wants to get his hair wet which leaves him vulnerable. It seems the boy only contemplates it all for a couple more seconds before he’s removing his aids and his world goes silent.

As he stands under the warm water, working quick to clean himself up, he can’t help but try to remember the last time he got to have a nice shower was. Honestly, it was probably before he even ran away. Pushing the thoughts away, he tries to clean himself as quick as possible realizes the grime on his skin is much thicker than he’d thought. Regardless, though, the boy makes himself finish his shower in five minutes– grime still somewhat present on his body– before he’s shoving his aids back in.

Luckily, Tony’s water is still running.

The boy dries off, brushes his teeth, and then leaves the caddy where he sees the other one’s lined up before making his way out of the bathroom and towards the room Phil had said would be his. As he enters, he notices three beds, desks, and storage dressers in the room. Two are decorated and filled with random books, posters, and photos. One is bare of decoration, though, he can’t help but smile at the blanket, pillow, and even the clothes that were set on what he’s assuming is his bed.

He’s quick to walk over and begin to put on the provided pajamas– some boxers, sweatpants, and a plain white tee-shirt. As he’s pulling the boxers up his legs, the boy he assumes is Tony walks in with a towel around his waist, giving a nod towards Clint in acknowledgment. Clint can’t help but turn away and attempt to get all his clothes on even faster and staying turned away till he’s sure Tony would be fully clothed.

“So I figured me and Bruce would get our third roommate eventually. I’m Tony by the way,” the boy now confirmed to be Tony says as he extends a hand for Clint to shake which he does so with only a brief moment of hesitation.

He remembers how foster homes work. You gotta show a front from the very beginning because any sign of weakness only acts as a reason for people to make you their punching bag.

“Clint,” the boy says with an uninterested look.

“How old are you? Like 10?” Tony asks as he turns back towards his side and sets up at the chair in front of his desk.

“I’m 12,” Clint says defensively.

“Yeah, same thing.”  
Before Clint can reply, though, Phil is walking into the room to make sure Clint had found the room as well as to get him to go lights out.

“So you’ve met roommate and housemate number one, I see,” Phil says giving Tony’s hair a quick tossle before continuing onto Clint’s side. “You have one other roommate, Bruce, and he’ll be in soon. He’s a bit older than Tony so he’s got a somewhat later bed call. Typically your lights out is gonna be 9:30, but today’s an exception, obviously. Light’s out now though, cause tomorrow’s gonna be a long day. Do you need another blanket or anything?”

Clint gives the man a weird look, but shrugs it off because he guesses that people tend to be nice the first couple nights you’re in a new home. He then shakes his head when he notices he didn’t answer Phil’s question.

“Alright, well, my room’s straight down at the end of the hall if you need anything just come in and let me know. If I’m not there I’m probably downstairs in my office. We have another staffer who takes a night shift, so they’ll be downstairs as well. Come on, now, under the covers.”

Phil pulls up the blanket from the bed and allows Clint to crawl into it before wishing the boy a goodnight and turning off his desk lamp. He hears the man tell Tony 15 minute warning before lights out and then the room goes quiet. It’s quiet until he hears the door creak open again followed by what he thinks is someone sitting down on one of the beds– probably Bruce.

“You talk to him?” Clint hears coming from an unknown voice.

“Yeah, pretty quiet. Seems like a tough kid,” Tony says in reply. “Gonna be funny to watch Phil deal with him.”

“Tony,” the voice says in what sounds like a disappointed tone. “Heard he was a runaway. Two years on the streets.”

“Shit really? Told me he’s 12. Might give Bucky a run for his money with being Phil’s hardest case.”

“Tony it’s not something to joke about. Bucky would beat the shit out of you if he heard you.”  
“Means I would get out of school again.”  
“You’re an idiot.”

There’s a bit more quiet chatter before all the lights in the room are out and it goes silent. And no matter how tired Clint is, he can’t fall asleep. Or not fully at least. Last time he fell asleep in a foster home he made a promise to himself and to Barney that he’d never do that again.

* * *

Clint’s at the breakfast table with all the other seven faces he had seen look at him the night before. There’s a plate of food in front of him, but he knows this game. You eat the food before someone says you can, you get punished. There’s some adults walking in and out of the eating area who keep giving him small looks but he makes sure they never see him stare at them. Soon enough Phil is walking out of his office, clapping his hands, as he shouts out names that need to go to school.

Or at least that’s what he thinks is happening because it’s all really loud and his hearing aids are practically screaming static frequency.

Six of the people around him are quick to grab backpacks as they make their way out the front door; Phil handing each a bag of lunch on their way out. When the last one walks out the door, Clint can’t help but sigh as he can finally hear again only to then notice one remaining figure at the table now staring at him.

“Eat your food,” he says before going back to his own meal.

Clint looks at him weirdly before ever so slowly picking up his fork and taking a bite of the eggs. As he swallows he looks around to see if anyone was going to do anything, but it seems as none of them noticed.

So he takes another bite.

And then he eats a strawberry.

And a grape.

And then he pushes his plate away because that’s enough to last him for the day and no one can tell he’d taken anything, so he can’t get punished.

He continues to sit at the table though until he hears a chair being pulled out next to him and Phil is placing himself down next to the boy.

“Bucky, you’re gonna work with Maria today, alright? I gotta take Clint to some appointments throughout the day. We can do some one on one later tonight, though, before lights out if you need?” Phil offers to which he only receives a nod in understanding. “As for you Mr. Clint, we’ve got a long day ahead, so you should eat up.”

“I’m fine,” Clint is quick to reply which causes Phil to give him a weird glance.

“Not hungry?”  
“I’m fine,” he repeats, more confidently.

“Alright, well, let’s go upstairs to get you some clothes for the day and then we’ve got to get you down to the doctor’s office. We’ll set you up with a wardrobe later tonight, sound good?”

And with that Clint nods again as he’s led upstairs to another closet where he’s given a pair of jeans, a shirt, sneakers and socks, and even a hoodie. The boy is quick to get ready before he meets Phil back downstairs where the man is patiently waiting while typing out something on his phone.

As he finishes the message he notices Clint waiting for him, so he gives the boy a small smile before guiding him out of the house and towards an older looking Ford SUV. As they get closer and closer to the car Clint feels his anxiety peak a bit about if he should sit in the front or back, but luckily for him he didn’t have to come to a conclusion because Phil opened the front door for him to climb up into.

Clint isn’t exactly sure where they’re going first because all Phil had said was that he had a lot of appointments to attend today. He was tempted to ask the man, but he wasn’t sure how the speaking rules worked yet. Logistically, he knows Phil is his counselor so the man probably would _ love _for him to speak, but he wasn’t about to do that without verifying he won’t get hit one way or another.

Soon enough, Clint notices the car pulling into the parking lot of a brick building with the sign _ Suffolk’s Pediatric’s Hospital _ outside the front door. He must have been analyzing where he was longer than he thought cause next thing he knows Phil is once again opening the door for him with a soft smile as he extends a hand out for the boy to offer assistance in getting out of the car.

“M’not a little kid,” Clint mumbles as he jumps down and begins to make his way to the door.

Phil doesn’t reply only catches up the boy without much effort and continued to lead the way into the office. Once inside, Phil tells Clint to go take a seat as he begins to fill out what looks to be an extremely extensive pack of papers. As Phil works on that, Clint once again begins to analyze his surroundings. He notes that he is the only one in this waiting room and can’t help but wonder if there were _ really _no other kid with a doctors appointment at this time or if the office had just been made aware of his history beforehand. He scoffs at the idea of being put in isolation, but he can’t help but think that that’s the reason.

“Clint Barton?” A nurse calls from the doorway, immediately locking eyes with the boy and Phil, who’s quick to smile and grab ahold of Clint’s hand to bring him towards the door. “Quiet day in the office, huh? Lucky you guys, though, no wait time.”

“Can only hope the rest of the day will be just as easy,” Phil says with a chuckle as he hands the clipboard of paperwork over to the nurse.

Now, Clint hadn’t been to a doctor in awhile, but he still remembers the basics of which they have him do which is why he doesn’t feel totally clueless when they have him take off his shoes or hand him a small plastic cup. The beginning portions of the visit are fine because no one’s asking questions, or at least he hopes they’re not because there’s a lot of beeping going around so his aids aren’t acting the clearest. Eventually though he’s led into a private room that has painting of Buzz and Woody on the wall and told to sit up on the examination table and that the doctor would be in soon.

Sure enough to the nurse’s words, there’s a knock on the door not even two minutes later followed by a young doctor entering the space.

“Hello, hello, good to see you again Phil, and it’s nice to meet you Clint. I’m Dr. Cho,” the woman says with a smile as she extends a hand for the boy to which he hesitantly shakes.

“Good to see you, too, Helen. Thanks for squeezing us in so last minute,” Phil says once the woman looks back at him.

“It’s not a problem at all. Plus as if I would let any of the other doctors here take away my favorite patients,” the woman jokes back before turning back to Clint. “Alright, so, Clint. I have your file, but it’s a bit scarce for my liking. So why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself.”

“I’m Clint Barton, and I’m 12,” the boy says quick and brief.

“Alright, well, I’m looking for a bit more. What do you like to do? How are you feeling?”

“I feel fine.”

Clint’s face remains stoic as Dr. Cho and Phil look about each other. Clint can see the two’s lips moving, but he can’t pick up what they’re saying except he does think he can read the lips of Dr. Cho say _ Bucky _.

“Alright, so you’re not much of a chatter, that’s okay. That’s actually fair. You don’t really know me, and you barely know Phil, so I understand. How about we start with this physical then, huh?” Dr. Cho says as she pulls out her stethoscope and the tool that shines a line in your eyes and ears.

When Clint doesn’t give a reply, the doctor takes it as though she can start. Clint can’t help but note how gentle every move she makes is, though he still flinches when he feels the stethoscope get pressed to his back. The doctor gives a soft smile as she continues the exam, only giving a quick warning when she had to look into his ears, hence removing the aids for a moment.

Eventually, Clint’s told to undress which he does so after only a moment of hesitation. He waits to remove his shirt last, but once he does he’s quick to hear both figures in the room gasp before attempting to cover it up. If possible, Clint notices Dr. Cho’s touches get even softer before finally he’s handed a hospital gown.

“Alright Clint, we have to get some scans done to see if there’s any past injuries we need to worry about, so before we do that, do you have any questions for me? Or any concerns?”

“No,” Clint quickly replies.

“Alright, well I have a couple questions for you actually. How are your potty habits? Does it hurt when you pee or poop? Are you regular?”

“My bathroom habits are fine,” the boy squeaks out, face tinted red.

“Do you have problems sleeping ever? Getting to sleep or staying asleep?”  
“No.”

“Alright, and prior to you moving in with Phil, how many meals a day do you think you had on average?”

At this question Clint remains silent while also sending a small glare towards the woman.

“Just a guess, huh? Or how about what you mainly ate before moving in with Phil.”  
“I don’t know,” Clint finally manages to whisper.

“How about where did you get most of your food?”

There’s a beat of silence before both Dr. Cho and Phil hear the boy whisper out an answer.

“The dumpsters,” Clint says with a hint of embarrassment, refusing to look upward so he didn’t have to see the disgusted looks.

“Alright, thank you for answering, kiddo. Now let’s go get your scans done.”


	2. Chapter 2

The visit with Dr. Cho lasted another hour and a half. Upon reviewing the scans, it turned out that Clint had several broken several bones over the years of which majority appeared to have never received treatment leading to them being weak fixes. She recommended some vitamins for the boy to take to help strengthen his bones as well as just playing safe. Alongside that, though, he currently had two broken ribs as well as a fractured wrist to which the boy claims he had no idea how that could be possible. What was slightly more concerning to the doctor was the sound his lungs were making which resembled as though he was recovering from a severe case of pneumonia.

After further evaluation, applying a splint, and a couple of shots, Phil and Clint were able to leave only to be taken to another part of the hospital so that Clint could have his ears examined. Turns out his hearing has gotten drastically worse from his last examination however many years ago, which wasn’t really a shock to the boy. What was a shock, though, was the new hearing aids the boy left with along with being told that these were just temporary ones/back ups and that his actual new ones should be able to be picked up in a couple days. Their day at the hospital was still far from over, though, as Phil was quick to guide Clint towards the office where their nutritionist works.

By how hard Clint was glaring at Phil, he knows the man can tell he’s upset with him about this visit, however, he doesn’t say anything other than  _ we gotta know where you’re at _ . The boy begrudgingly accepted the allergy test, coming back clean for everything except a mild reaction to some random flower and a potentially more severe reaction to hazelnuts. More blood work was done as well as having himself weighed again before the nutritionist was giving Phil a “course of action” for the minimum type of meals he should be eating each day and when.

With that they finally seemed to be finished with the day as Phil guided them back out to the car. Except rather than pulling back up to the house, they pull into a strip mall that has a grocery store, pharmacy, as well as a couple other shops.

“We have to get you some prescriptions and then I need to pick up a couple groceries for the house. You’re in luck, you get to help me pick out snacks for everyone this week,” Phil says as he wraps an arm around the boy’s shoulder only for him to immediately shrug it off.

At the pharmacy, Phil was handed two prescriptions: one that is an overall immunity booster and another that is a nutritional supplement. He was also given an Epi-Pen as well as a practice one which Phil made Clint actually acknowledge the pharmacist as he taught him how to do it, as well as a nebulizer which Clint had been told he’ll need to use every night for at least the next two weeks to clear up his lungs. All in all, the boy thought this was all dramatic, but he remembers from when he was younger to  _ never _ question the adult he’s currently living with.

Post pharmacy, Clint finds himself being guided in and out of the aisles throughout the grocery store, and he can’t help but look at Phil as if he’s grown a second head. The man isn’t even looking at the price tags, he’s just grabbing what he sees. He even bought one of those special nut types of milk that always confuse him. As they got into the snack aisles, Phil tells him to grab what he likes, however, like breakfast Clint knows this game too well, so he grabs nothing. Phil pushed and gestured him to go on, but Clint remained stiff. He likes to think Barney would be proud.

Eventually, Phil finally let the game end and just picked out the snacks himself before  _ finally _ the two were done in the store. The food was packed up and loaded into the car before they managed their way back into the household that Clint was still highly unfamiliar with.

“Think you can carry two bags, bud? If you can’t that’s alright, we need to come back out anyways,” Phil asks as he strategically passes the boy one of the lighter bags.

“I can carry two,” Clint is quick to reply as he grabbed ahold of another brown bag before the two make their way in through the front door.

“Bucky! Come help bring in and unload some of these groceries, please!” Phil shouts once inside the house, slightly noticing Clint’s flinch.

Without a word in reply Bucky appears in the living room and immediately makes his way outside only to reappear in the kitchen with the remaining four bags. Unloading of the bags is a quiet event, but finally everything is put away and Clint is just hoping he’s told to go to his room for the remainder of the day. 

Except that isn’t the case.

“Alright, well, I need to finish some of your paperwork Clint, so how about you and Bucky go hangout in the living room. Bucky, if you’re up to it you can show him around the house a bit; I just showed him where the bathroom, his room, and my room were last night,” Phil says as he ruffles the older boy’s hair before disappearing behind the door of what Clint thinks is his office.

Clint made sure to keep his face as neutral and as tough as he could when he found himself being left alone with Bucky, however, it seemed to do nothing because Bucky simply walked out of the kitchen without even acknowledging the boy. Clint remains in the kitchen for another five minutes, not really sure on what he should do before finally deciding to go out to the couches in the living area where he finds Bucky waiting with crossed arms.

“Do you want me to show you around or not? I’ve literally just been standing here waiting for you,” Bucky says with an unimpressed look.

“I don’t need to be shown around,” Clint replies only with slight hesitancy.

“Wow, you’re really gonna try to keep up this tough guy persona, huh? What, all you need to know is where your room and the bathroom is? News flash, kid, you’re 12, so you’re gonna be living here for a long time coming. Might as well learn what you can and can’t do here,” Bucky retorts with a snort and roll of the eyes. “Quit the tough act and just follow me, alright?”

“You’re not the boss of me,” Clint says without thinking.

“Real mature response. Next are you gonna threaten to tell on me to Phil?”

“You’re a dick.”

“Oh wow, Baby’s got a bite to go along with those teeth,” Bucky said with a chuckle. “How about you just put your tail between your legs for a little bit and I’ll show you around cause if not it’s gonna be Phil doing it later on.”

At the mention of needing to spend  _ more  _ time with Phil, Clint finally realized he didn’t really have any other choice as he straightened himself up and took a step towards Bucky– sulk ever so present on his face. Bucky doesn’t say anything, but the smirk he’s sporting shows that he knew what decision Clint was going to end up making.

“So as you can tell this is the living room. This room is kind of a free zone from the hours of 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM where if you wanna watch something on TV it’s first come first serve. We eat dinner at 7:00 each night, so there’s no TV allowed on again until 8:00. Then from 8:00 onward it’s a reward system where you have to earn the privilege to choose what the house watches. Right now you’re gonna be on the homeschool/tutor system, so technically we can watch TV during the day as long as we finish our work and our tutor doesn’t take it away as punishment.

“Over here is the family room,” Bucky says as he guides the younger boy into the adjoining room. “This is where people tend to do homework or just chill out. It’s usually quieter here because this is our  _ screen free zone _ . We do our group therapy sessions in here, and since we aren’t allowed to have phones out during that Phil thought we should keep this to be an area that is always a retreat from technology. Everyone’s got their own self assigned seat to sit in during group, so later today when everyone gets home just wait for all of us to sit before choosing somewhere. You can probably take one of the bean bags. Maybe. Depends if Tony chooses to hog them all to be a dick.

“And then if you walk through the kitchen and through the other door way you get three doors. This one leads to the garage, this one leads to Phil’s office, and the last leads to the media room. Phil will stress to you that  _ you’re always welcome to come in _ even when it’s like Maria or someone else in there, so yeah. You’re gonna have to earn the privilege to use the media room on your own, so for now the only way you’ll be allowed in there is probably with the tutors. And then the garage is kinda split into half being a gym and half being a pool table and ping pong table. Don’t know if you’re gonna have restrictions going in there, you’re the youngest kid I’ve seen since being here.”

“I’m not that young,” Clint finally speaks up for the first time during the whole tour.

“Yeah whatever you say, 12-year-old,” Bucky chuckles. “Come on, I’ll show you outside.”

Outside doesn’t turn out to be anything special. There’s a basketball hoop on the side of the house that apparently is hardly used. There’s also a bonfire pit that’s surrounded by a good amount of lounge chairs that Clint is told is used for group therapy when the weather’s nice enough and everyone’s had a good month. What he does find himself smiling at for just a split second, though, is the big tree in the center of the yard that on one side has a tire swing attached to it and the other a clearly handmade wooden swing.

If Bucky noticed, though, he didn’t say anything.

Finally, the two make their way back inside and into the living room just in time for everyone to get back from school it seems. Bucky is quick to leave his side once he sees the other house members entering, and more specifically he heads directly towards the short blonde haired guy that he had seen him talking to earlier this morning. Clint can see the subtle stares he’s receiving, but chooses to not make a comment about it until he knows everyone’s personality a little bit more.

_ Why pick a fight when he’s not even sure what got everyone sent here _ .

He notices everyone settling around in the living room to do homework and immediately catch up on their days or something. He can’t exactly pick up what’s being said because even though these hearing aids don’t screech in his ears, they still make it difficult to pick up multiple conversations at once. Also, TV’s always have a minor static noise that it seems only his hearing aids pick up on and annoy the shit out of him. Because of this, the boy finds himself needing to go upstairs to settle the sensory overload– regardless of knowing that this’ll give them all a reason to talk about him more.

* * *

Clint thinks he’s been upstairs for maybe an hour– it could be significantly less, he’s never been good at tracking time– before Phil is entering the room. Clint immediately stands up from the bed because he knows not to leave himself in vulnerable positions like that anymore.

“I heard Bucky explaining some rules to you earlier, you know you’re allowed to watch TV with the others right? Right now everyone gets a chance to pick something,” Phil says as he keeps his distance from the boy.

“Never really been one for TV,” Clint mumbles as he adjusts himself so that his back is more towards the wall– and that the lamp is just an arm’s length away.

“Hmm, that’s fair. Well, we’re doing our group session a bit earlier today because it’s going to be a bit of a longer one than normal, so if you don’t mind coming downstairs you’ll officially get to meet everyone,” Phil says as he exits the room, leaving the door open for Clint to follow.

The boy eyed the door suspiciously, but eventually makes his way to leave because he knows if he doesn’t Phil will just come back to get him– this time annoyed. He makes his way into the room that Bucky had told him they host group in, and he’s internally glad to see everyone has taken their seats. He’s quick to analyze where everyone sets themselves up before taking a seat on the ground, just in front of the little coffee table they have in front of the couch.

“Clint, you can sit on the couch. There’s plenty of room,” Phil says as he notes where the boy places himself.

“I’m fine,” is the quick, off putting reply he receives and Phil chooses this isn’t one of the battles that he wants to pick.

“Alright, well then, if everyone’s settled let’s begin! So, as I told you all yesterday and you’ve now all very briefly met, Clint is the newest member of our household. So, if you guys don’t mind, while you do your high and low of the day I also want you to introduce yourself,” Phil states. “Steve, how ‘bout you start?”

“Well, doesn’t seem like I get a choice,” the one Clint assumes is Steve states– also noting he’s the one Bucky always tends to be with. “My high is that I beat the schools record for fastest 100 meter dash, but my low is that it doesn’t count because I’m not part of the track team so they weren’t _ officially _ tracking my time. As for who I am, I’m Steve. I’m 17 and I’m a senior. I should be on the school’s track and cross country team, but apparently you get into one fight and they suddenly can barr you from joining.”

“Steve,” Phil interjects.

“You know it’s bullshit.”

“Conversation for another time. Bucky, go please.”

“High is that I only have one more week of suspension. Low is that once I get back I’ll probably be forced into in-school suspension. You know who I am, name’s Bucky. Also 17, also a senior.”

“Okay, you know why don’t we introduce ourselves with a little more energy? You guys are making it seem like I’m bending your arm backwards. Pepper, how about you go now?” Phil states in an exasperated manner.

Introductions tend to get a bit better once Pepper goes. Clint learns that she is 16 and a sophomore. For a group home kid, though, she’s very put together as she’s class president and runs the debate team. Then there’s Bruce, his other roommate, who is also 16 but a junior. He is involved in the chemistry and physics club at school, and now the big textbooks in their room makes sense. Arthur, or Thor, is also 16 and a junior. He’s from out of country, Clint can tell by the accent, but isn’t exactly sure where. He’s on the school’s soccer and football team– so there’s an immediate mental note that he shouldn’t be messed with. He once again is introduced to Tony who is 15 and a freshmen, though, it seems he’s at an equivalent level of Bruce’s smarts, so maybe he’s definitely gonna have a hard time fitting into his room. And then finally there’s Natasha who’s 14 and in 8th grade. She dances, but Clint can tell there’s something else about her that makes her different from the other kids. Maybe it’s cause they’re the closest in age, but he makes a mental note that if he chooses an ally in the house then she should be it.  _ Not confirmed, but just a general analysis. _

By the time everyone’s gone Clint feels slightly overloaded, however, he knows not to show it. He expects eyes to fall on him, however, someone clearing their throat from the doorway behind them ends up distracting the room.

“Oh Maria! Good, you made it for group! Care to do your high and low before introducing yourself to our newest houseguest?” Phil states with a smile as the woman grabs the open seat next to him.

“Yeah definitely. Well, today my high is that I found this really good blondies recipe online and they came out tasting amazing! But my low is that the recipe made four dozen, so I just have too many for myself to eat,” the woman says with a smirk that has a couple people smiling, however, Clint knows not to smile or expect anything from the statement. “As for who I am, my name is Maria Hill. Like Phil I am a counselor and social worker here at the home. I am here most days, including nights, but when I’m not here I’m usually just at the high school a couple blocks away since I also work there. I enjoy reading– comics are my guilty pleasure– and relaxing outside when the weather’s nice.”

Once she finished speaking everyone finally put their attention on Clint who’s just hoping his face looks as stoic as he thinks it is.

“Alright, Clint, now do you have a high and low you want to share?” Phil says with a smile.

“Uh, not really?” Clint says cautiously, testing the waters on what is expected of him.

“That’s fine, but why don’t you introduce yourself to us,” Phil says, having expected the boy not to give a high or low.

“I’m Clint. I’m 12, so like whatever grade that puts me in I guess I’m there. Or well, I’m probably lower, but yeah. Um, I don’t do much,” Clint states awkwardly, not looking up at those around him even though he knows he should so that he doesn’t show weakness.

“We’re all excited to have you here, Clint. We’ll find some hobbies for you to get into soon enough, don’t worry,” Maria says with a smile before looking back to Phil.

“Maria’s right, we’re glad you’re here. So, today’s session is a bit different than how it normally will be. Typically, we do a quick highs and lows, and then if anyone has something pressing that they want to talk about we begin with that. If no one has something of their own that they want to share then Maria or I will pose a question or bring up some discussion points that we have everyone talk or think about. We don’t force you guys to talk, however, if you don’t open up during group that tends to mean that the one on one sessions need to be longer or more frequent. We have group everyday, but most days it only last 30 to 40 minutes. We have one long one on Sunday’s that’s usually closer to an hour or hour and a half

“Today, we’re gonna go over some of our living-learning rules and expectations. These are rules that as a household we have all agreed upon being the best way to keep us level headed with one another. If there’s one you don’t agree with we can discuss it and work something out, alright? Or if you have one you’d like us to consider we can talk about it and either vote on it tonight or tomorrow. Sound good?”

When Clint gave a short nod, Phil couldn’t help but give the boy a small smile as he looked towards the other house members to see who wanted to bring up which rule first.

“Alright, well, first things first: we have a chore wheel. We rotate clockwise every Wednesday and Sunday. Two people are always assigned to dishes, and two people are assigned to bathroom duty. There’s another two who split doing laundry together, and then one person is in charge of floor cleanup and another is in charge of yard maintenance. Once a month we mess around with the wheel order so you’re not constantly partnered up with the same two people, but aside from that there’s not  _ swapping chores _ type of thing,” Pepper is quick to jump in saying the first– and in her eye’s most important– rule.

“If the family room door is shut that means that someone just needs a break from everyone else, and you’re not allowed to come in unless Phil or Maria is sending you to come get us,” Bruce states the next rule.

“For the bathroom downstairs, put the seat down after using it and clean up if you don’t know how to aim,” Natasha states the next one with a subtle glare which causes Tony to suppress a laugh.

“Don’t ask why people are here,” Bucky emphasizes that rule with another glare. “And  _ don’t _ touch my prosthetic.”

“Respect the shower schedule,” Steve says, voice calmer than the last two.

“Respect the  _ do not touch _ signs in the media room once you’re able to go in there,” Tony says.

“No loud noises before 8 AM during the week, and 9:30 AM on the weekends,” Thor states in a pleading manner.

Clint looks around to see if anyone is going to state another rule before looking back at Phil with an expectant look.

“As you can see, those are their favorite rules, but we do have a couple others. Like, this is a drug, alcohol, and gang interaction free zone. On the weekends, quiet hours start at midnight. Respect the privilege system of where or what you’re allowed to do in the household. You should be respectful to myself, Maria, and all other staff members here. If you respect us, we’ll be obligated to respect you on an equivalent level. And just in general, if you think what you’re doing isn’t allowed, you’re probably right, but you can always asks us and there will be no repercussions for clarifying,” Phil wraps up. “Do you have any comments about the rules or do you have any you’d like to add?”

Clint sits there for a couple minutes processing everything he’s been told. He thinks on the rules, and if he’s being honest he feels like they’re all reasonable. Obviously, he doesn’t know the repercussions if you break them, so he’s just gotta not break them– or not get caught. The one rule that he keeps thinking back to is Bucky saying people can’t touch his prosthetic, and it makes him wonder if he can have his own variation of that rule.

“No one can touch my hearing aids,” Clint mumbles, though, he manages to make eye contact with Phil.

“That’s not even one we have to vote on, alright? Any rule that has to do with you and how people interact with you is automatically implemented,” Phil says seriously. “Alright, well, if there’s nothing else everyone go finish your homework and I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”


	3. Chapter 3

Clint once again hides in his room until dinner time which in reality he wished he could hide through as well. Unfortunately, Phil was not allowing that as he guided the boy down to the table where everyone had already begun to eat. Upon getting to his seat, however, he realized he didn’t have a plate which just confirmed that this was the type of household that made you earn your meal.

Except he’s quickly proven wrong.

“Alright, bud, so Dr. Cotter gave me a calendar with the meals you should be getting each day, so we can get your nutritional levels up to par. They’re all pretty simple, but if you don’t like them just let me or Maria know, alright? I need you to finish your plate before leaving the table,” Phil says as he places down a bowl of food.

Clint gives the man a questioning look before he analyzes the plate in front of him. It definitely didn’t look as appealing as everyone else’s meal, but he wasn’t looking to get punished over something as little as being given food. This meal is much chattier than both breakfast and lunch had been, however, no one seemed to look at him during the entirety of the meal. Not that Clint was complaining about that, but he’s just confirmed that it is  _ definitely _ a household versus him type of situation.The meal is finished quickly after that, and once everyone placed their dishes on the counter Clint noticed it was once again just him, Bucky, and Phil left in the room.

“We’re on dish duty together, think you can manage?” Bucky says while throwing a towel at the boy, only to have it swiped away while in mid-air.

“I’ve got it covered on your part tonight, Bucky. How about you go set up in the family room and I’ll meet you there in about 15 minutes so we can have our session?” Phil offers, and Bucky doesn’t even think twice before walking out of the kitchen just glad to be out of dish duty for the night. “So, don’t know if you recall but I mentioned yesterday that everyone has a personal counselor?”   
“Yeah and I fall under as one of your wards,” Clint says as he begins to wash and dry the dishes on his own.

“Here, I’ll wash you dry,” Phil cuts in as he hands Clint the dishrag. “And yes, that you do. I work with you, Bucky, and all Tony one-on-one. You’ll come to realize that most people don’t have pre-set times in which they meet for their one-on-ones except maybe on Sundays, but for now I think it might be good if we work on a schedule.”

“Whatever you say,” Clint replies dryly.

“Hey, bud, this isn’t a punishment, okay? This is for you. For now, this isn’t to talk about anything from your past; it’s to talk about how you are now and to see how you’re feeling in the house, We just wanna make sure you feel comfortable and safe.”

“I have a bed and get food, I think I feel safe.”

“That’s true and I’m glad that those things indicate safeness to you, but sometimes it goes further. Or something we have bad days and need to talk about them, so that’s what I’m here for. Like today, it was a really long day and you had to meet a lot of people and allow a lot of people to touch you and I know that can be overwhelming, so it helps to sometimes talk those things through.”

“It was something you said I had to do, no need to talk about it.”

Phil can see that the day’s events definitely took a toll on Clint, however, he can also see that personality wise he’s very similar to Bucky where he’s a bit hard headed, and definitely won’t be easy to get to open up.

“Okay well maybe not today, but maybe in the future there will be a day you wanna talk about. While it’s just you and me do you have any questions about what happened during our group session? Rules that you want us to consider?”

“Nope,” Clint says with a pop of the lips.

“Clint,” Phil says grabbing the last plate from the boy’s hands. “I know this is all hard for you especially considering the lifestyle you’re coming from, but I need you to know you can talk to me. I’m not asking you to trust me just yet, but I do hope you at least give me a chance to gain your trust.”

The two remain in silence for a couple minutes, finishing the last plates and remaining silverware. Just as Phil was going to tell Clint what he needs to do the rest of the night, though, Clint surprises him by speaking up.

“What are the con-consequences for breaking rules?” Clint mutters just above a whisper that Phil barely hears it.

“Well, it depends,” Phil says as he sits down at the table they had been at not too long ago and gestures for Clint to do the same. “We work on a point system here. Everyone when they first get to the house starts at 1000 points. This gives you the basic privileges of watching TV, supervised mediaroom access, and you can be in the garage game room area. I do ask though that if you want to use the gym stuff run it by me or one of the staff people cause I don’t want you using that when no one’s down there okay?”

When Clint nods with wide eyes Phil can’t help but smile as well as internally coo at the boy’s innocence.

“Every week your social worker gets a report on you. It’s a basic checklist of marking your behavior with members of the house, behavior with staff, how you interact in group or your personal one on ones, how compliant you are with eating and taking meds and other things as such. Based on the behavior component of that you can increase your points by 100, and if you go the whole month with good behavior reports you get an additional 250 points. Other ways you can increase your points include doing your chores extra good, helping out house members, or doing well in your academic reports,” Phil says with a smile.

“B-but how do I lose points? And-and what happens when I lose points?” Clint asks a bit louder now, and the fear is also much more prevalent.

“Well, when your behavioral reports aren’t that great and there’s more poor behavior than good than you lose 100 points per week. You also lose points for not doing your chores or homework. Once you fall to 750 points then privileges start getting taken away, like there will be no more TV or you can’t go down to the garage. If you get to 500 points then you’ll likely have your curfew moved to an earlier time or you might get an extra chore for the week. Once you hit 300 you don’t really get privileges. You’re required to be with a staff member at all times, and that’s not fun because even though I think I’m cool I do a lot of paperwork so it’s not entertaining to watch.”

“And if I get to zero?” Clint manages to ask without stuttering though his eyes show a different story that Phil fears the day he cracks the boy into trusting him.

“You won’t get to zero, buddy, no one ever has because when you guys are having a rough time we work really hard with you to make sure we can help you in any way possible. One thing you should know though, is that your punishment will never involve sending you away from this home, okay? You’re the only one that can decide if you leave, alright?” Phil asks while making sure the boy is looking at him.

“Alright, well, if you don’t have anymore questions how about you go up to shower and then come back down here so we can get you set up with your first nebulizer treatment,” Phil says with a smile.

“C-can I- uh, nevermind,” Clint says before rushing upstairs.

As Phil exits the kitchen he can’t help but smile at the remaining bit of the boy’s figure he can see climbing up the stairs before entering the family room where he knows Bucky would be patiently waiting for him.

* * *

Clint learns quickly that night that he does _ not  _ like the nebulizer treatments even in the slightest. For starters, having a mask strapped around your mouth that’s blowing out hot steam that also doesn’t smell great just isn’t comfortable. However, the real reason he doesn’t like it is because of all the looks he’s getting from the rest of his housemates. No one’s said anything aside from one teasing comment about  _ Clint using a pacifier still _ when Phil had initially set up the treatment with the internal mouthpiece. 

The taunting remark may have led to Clint quickly standing from his seat– knocking it over in the process– and attempting to charge towards Bucky before being intercepted by Phil before anything could occur. Once the situation was controlled Bucky was sent upstairs for the remainder of the night while Clint finished his treatment from his initial position. Once it was done, though, the boy was also sent upstairs for his near lights out call. And just like the night before Phil checks in on the boy once more, asks if he needs anything, before turning the light off in the room.

Clint waits on the bed for about 10 minutes after Phil leaves before he creeps out of the bed and walks towards the window bench. At first Clint just wanted to get a better view and idea of where he was, but eventually he can’t help but crawl up onto the cushioned bench as he looks further out the window. Before he can continue to look around too much, though, he hears the door open only to reveal a slightly confused Tony.

“Oh, I thought you were supposed to be asleep,” the boy says nonchalantly, however, Clint reacts anything but nonchalantly.

“Sorry, don’t tell, I’m going to sleep now!” Clint rushes out as he runs underneath his covers, tightly gripping them over his head.

“Hey, you’re good, don’t worry. I didn’t mean anything by it, just wasn’t expecting you to be awake,” Tony tries to push, however, the boy stays hidden under his blankets and Tony swears he can see the bed vibrating.

Before the boy can go over to make sure he’s okay, though, Phil is popping his head back into the room with a questioning look.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Phil says while looking at Tony, and Clint just waits in fear for Tony to bust him for being out of bed after curfew.

“Uh, nothing. I forgot Clint moved in here, got confused by the lump on the bed,” Tony says casually which surprises the younger boy.

Upon mentioning the boy’s name, Phil can’t help but look over to his figure only to frown at the sight of him curled tightly in his bed with the blanket being clutched like a life preserver.

“Hey, Clint, hey, buddy, you alright? Do you not feel well?” Phil says in concern.

“M’fine, sorry, goin’ t’sleep,” Clint says from under the covers.

Phil gives a look to Tony, though, the boy just shrugs as he begins to get ready for bed himself. When nothing else is spoken from either boy Phil sighs as he wishes each a goodnight before once again closing the door to their room.

As he makes his way downstairs to his office he isn’t surprised to find Maria waiting for him with a sympathetic smile.

“Bucky was good today. I say he’s ready to go back to school with the others, but I’m not sure if that’s what he wants? He seemed intrigued by Clint. Kept asking questions about him while you two were out today. Was curious how long he’ll be homeschooled for, or if you’ll attempt to include him on your monthly outing with him and Tony now that he’s one of your wards,” Maria says with a smile.

“All good questions that I haven’t thought about yet,” Phil says with a smile back. “But that’s good. I say he finishes up this week here and I’ll reach out to the school to let them know Bucky is ready to come back for next week. Get a couple standard test for Clint as well to see where he’s at.”

“The already low self esteem is unfortunate; already figures he should be placed in a lower level grade. Any idea what his last formal education was?”

“He ran away at 10, but that last home appears to have been his most abusive home based on how some of the other kids in the home were found. Apparently most of the kids there were being used more for personal use, so there wasn’t a lot of schooling. It also doesn’t help that he was moved into so many homes in a short time frame. His records were never able to be properly updated so he was always repeating stuff. If I had to guess, last grade he formally finished might be 3rd grade?”

“The poor kid, I know I haven’t spoken to him just yet, but just his interactions alone show how much this system has screwed him. How was his visit with Cho?”

“It was good, no sedatives were needed so like good on that standpoint. It’s pretty clear he’s malnourished, so I have his diet schedule taped up on the pantry and I’ll be emailing it out to everyone tonight. His ribs are broken and he has a fractured wrist. Some majorly serious bruising surrounding his body, especially in some areas that seriously concerned both myself and Dr. Cho, but based on how jittery he was we chose to not go that extreme on the exam.”

“Sexual abuse?” Maria asked in a way that sounded as though she feared getting an answer.

“It looked like it, so some of the bloodwork is going to be used for an STI test. Based on that we may not be able to postpone some of the conversations that will be about his life when he was on the street.”

“God, he’s a baby, that isn’t right.”

“I just hope he gives us a chance.”


	4. Chapter 4

Clint can’t remember the last time his life had this much structure. He can’t remember being told to go to bed or not being abruptly woken up by his brother at random hours of the night/morning telling them they need to move before someone bust them. He can’t remember a time where he was consistently fed the three standard meals of the day. And he can’t remember the last time he was referred to by his actual name more than he was referred to by a moniker. Yet almost 48 hours into living in this household and all of those things have been done.

For the second morning in a row, he gets breakfast. Unlike the day before, he actually manages to eat some of the food seeing as it was Phil who filled the bowl and told him he expected it all to be finished. It seemed like an order in his mind, so he couldn’t not listen to it. Just like the previous day when Phil told everyone to wrap up everyone was quick to finish their meals, put on their shoes, grab their bags, and run out the door for their day of school. One thing that was different from yesterday, though, is that rather than it just being Bucky left at the table with him Steve remained back as well.

“Steve, school,” Phil says with a raised brow as he notices the boy still at the table.

“So, Phil, here’s the thing, I forgot to give this to you yesterday,” Steve says with a not so sheepish smile as he passes an envelope to Phil.

The older man raises a brow as he opens the envelope before sighing and looking at the boy in annoyance.

“Suspended? Really?” Phil says as he analyzes Clint’s bowl to make sure it’s been cleared enough for his liking.

“Yeah, I was gonna mention it after group, but then I got distracted. And I assumed Maria would have been told but then no one came to talk to me last night so I realized that obviously didn’t happen and now here we are.”

“Is this because of track? Steve, we’ve talked about this: they’re keeping you off the team right now  _ because _ of your behavior. If you want to rejoin you’re gonna have to behave and from it looks like also apologize,” Phil sighs as he removes his glasses and places the paper down. “You  _ had _ to break the coaches glasses?”

“Didn’t realize I ran so fast that a gust of wind would knock them off?” Steve replies with a chuckle.

“A shoulder probably helped,” Bucky says under his breath as he finishes his cereal.

“Alright, enough. Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now. You three finish your breakfast then go get changed for the day, even though you won’t  _ be _ in school we still need to go over there. Gotta talk to the principal about Bucky starting again next week, you, Steve, need to apologize to your coach, and Clint we’ve gotta get you registered with the school and some placement tests done.”

All three boys seem to simultaneously roll their eyes before moving to go upstairs. It’s when Clint comes back downstairs wearing the same outfit from the day previous that Phil realizes he hadn’t set the boy up with a wardrobe of any sorts.

“Clint, let’s go back upstairs and get you fresh clothes. I have some staple items I can set you up with, but I think after visiting the school we should get you some of your own things as well,” Phil says as he grabs the boy’s hand to guide him upstairs.

Clint is quick to remove his hand from the older man’s grip, and Phil doesn’t miss the way the boy’s cheeks pinken up in an embarrassed manner. Something he’s noted that the boy easily becomes, so he assumes there may have been a lot of childish taunting in his years on the street and potentially even before then. Pushing the thought aside, the man sets him up with some fresh jeans and a fresh t-shirt, before meeting the older two boys by the front door of the house.

As the four make their way outside the house, Bucky is quick to separate from the bunch so that he could grab the front seat before Steve, leaving the blonde boy to be in the back with Clint. The drive is relatively quiet aside from the occasional instance of Steve reaching over the seat to flick Bucky’s ear or play with the radio station before they’re pulling up to the school. All four are quick to get out of the car and make their way into the school, and seeing as it was now just after 8:45 AM this meant all the students were switching from homeroom to their first classes of the day. Because of this the hallways seemed extremely packed, though, it didn’t seem to bother neither Phil, Bucky, or Steve.

It did bother Clint though.

The boy should have figured Steve and Bucky wouldn’t be thrown off by the crowdedness seeing as they typically attend school there, however, he couldn’t help but be jealous. Having been on the streets for the past couple years, the one thing Clint has come to realize is that crowds are bad. People get lost in crowds. Or hurt. Or even worse, they get caught. Because of this he and Barney always avoided them, however, now it appears to be biting him in the ass because he feels terrified. 

Phil notices the second they step foot into the hallway that Clint’s anxiety spikes. Not only is he in an unknown area swarmed by people, but his hearing aids are acting up so now he feels trapped and can’t hear anything going on around him. Unlike the day before where Clint tried to keep a distance between, it appeared today as though he wanted to get as close as possible without touching the man. Phil wishes he could assure the boy that everything would be fine, however, he can tell that the boy doesn’t want to hear that, so he settles for subtly grabbing onto the boy’s hand, offering a small smile when the terrified eyes look up at him.

Unlike earlier this morning, Clint doesn’t pull away, but rather takes a small step closer so that the separation is a bit less while moving the other hand to try and adjust his hearing aids. Luckily for him they manage to make it to the office relatively quickly after that. As they approach the door, Clint doesn’t know what to expect. He hasn’t formally been to school since he was nine– maybe– and even then he never lived in a good school district and administration never seemed to care about anyone or anything. For some reason, he wasn’t expecting to be met with a well organized office surrounded by smiling faces– one including Maria.

“Hi Clint, nice surprise seeing you here this morning,” Maria says with a smile as she sees Clint before the other three. 

“Didn’t realize we were doing an early field trip here?” She continues upon seeing Phil, Bucky, and Steve following in afterwards.

“Yes, well, Steve  _ forgot _ to tell us he was suspended for an encounter he had with the track coach yesterday,” Phil says with a slight look of annoyance as he looks back at the boy with a raised brow. “So we just decided to get that apology out of the way as well as have Bucky talk about his coming back to school next Monday, and get Clint his placement test to do with the tutors. What are you doing in the office? I thought you had a meeting with the school board superintendent this morning?”

Before Maria could answer, though, a furious looking Natasha comes storming into the office followed by a patient looking teacher.

“This is why,” Maria says with a smile. “Natasha, please breathe. Go wait for me in my office, you can make yourself a cup of tea if you’d like, and I’ll be in in a moment. If you decide you want to go home Phil is already here, so I’m sure he can take one more kid on his adventure back to the house.”

The anger on the girl’s face seems to subside, however, she still shoves her way through Bucky and Steve as well as manages to knock shoulder quite hard against Clint. Always having good balance, Clint barely moved from his position, though, he’d be lying if he didn’t think that he’d be left with a bruise later that evening.

“Just some classroom drama I think, but she’ll probably go home with you,” Maria says with a soft smile.

“Yeah I figured. Okay, well, come on guys let’s go in to see Principal Carter and get some apologies out into the air while the day is still young.”

As Clint finds himself being led towards the door that says principal he realizes his once loose grip on Phil’s hand has turned tight, and he can’t help but scold himself for appearing weak in front of so many housemates but also random strangers. Barney would be  _ humiliated _ . Regardless, though, Clint finds himself still being led towards the now ominous looking door only to have it suddenly opened by an individual who did not look like they belonged behind it.

“Principal Carter, good to see you again,” Phil says with a smile, though, Clint can’t help but wrinkle his nose at the dripping sarcasm.

“We will see each other on a good occasion soon, I can feel it,” the woman behind the door says with a smile as she guides the four into the room. “And who’s this? New addition?”

“Yes, this is Clint Barton. He moved in two nights ago, so part of the reason for today’s visit is getting a couple placement exams for him to do with our tutors later today.”

“Yes, of course! I’ll have Aden put together a folder of tests. For right now, it’s very nice to meet you Clint. How old are you, sweetheart?” The woman asks in a voice that Clint does not appreciate at all, however, he still appears shaken up because for some reason he can’t get words to formulate.

“He’s our youngest house member actually, 12 years old. I think his hearing aids are still trying to readjust from the noise in the hallway,” Phil says when he notices the boy isn’t going to reply.

“You’ve just got a whole mix of kids over there, huh? Alright, well, we’ll get that set up while we talk about the other issues I’m assuming you’re also here for?”

Rather than Phil replying now, though, it’s Bucky stepping forward offering his apologies for the last fight that he was involved in as well as an envelope of all the work he had skipped since the semester began just two months prior. Phil provided the evaluation charts from the tutors to Principal Carter to show that Bucky was making an effort to do his work as well as show a game plan that the boy, his tutor, and Phil had come up with to make sure he stays on top of his work as well as a way to not become overwhelmed when he gets confused. There was also a new plan for how Bucky plans to handle his temper in situations that may aggravate him, and how he plans to implement them into his everyday schooling. After a couple of questions everything seemed to work itself out and Principal Carter agreed that Bucky is ready to start back in school come Monday.

Steve was next to apologize for his outburst, though, eventually his coach was called in so that he would not have to do it twice. He apologized for his behavior while also issuing an agreement for how he plans to go about what to do when he’s angry in the future. Much to his pleasure, though, his part didn’t end up being solely an apology as his coach agreed if he could go the remainder of the cross country season just training without complaining or starting any fights, then he’d be able to rejoin the track team come the beginning of their season.

“See, boys, this wasn’t so bad, huh?” Phil says as he looks at each boy, eyes shining with pride for how they handled themselves.

“Yes, Phil, we see that some of your methods aren’t completely useless,” Bucky says with a short smile.

“Alright, well, I will see you two here on Monday morning. And Clint, I look forward to having you join us soon,” Principal Carter says as the four exit the office.

* * *

“Clint, buddy, come on pick out some shirts you like,” Phil says in an exasperated manner.

They’ve been at Target for nearly 40 minutes now, and Bucky, Steve, and Natasha have all picked out a good amount of clothes, however, Clint has yet to even touch one article of clothing. Phil feels as though he’s twisting the boy’s arm backwards or asking him to eat raw brussel sprouts with how adamant Clint is to not get any new clothes.

“And like I’ve said a hundred times now:  _ I. Am. Fine.  _ I don’t need new stuff, you gave me three new shirts and three new pants already,” Clint said as though it were common sense.

“Sweetheart, that isn’t enough, you need a wardrobe. How about some shorts? Long sleeved shirts? Pajamas?”

“I don’t want anything,” Clint says in the loudest voice he’s used since being brought in by the police.

“Phil can you just pick out stuff for him? I’m bored and his temper tantrum is annoying,” Natasha says with a roll of her eyes.

“I’m not having a temper-”

“I  _ wasn’t _ talking to you. Don’t talk to me unless addressed, thank you,” Natasha cuts off with a glare that nearly has Clint taking a step backwards.

“Natasha, please do not taunt Clint. I have an idea, how about you three go towards the food section and pick out something we can bake once we get home? Nothing with hazelnuts or nutella though,” Phil says, though, he doesn’t even need to finish his sentence before the older three are walking off leaving Phil with a frustrated looking Clint.

Phil looks at the boy and he can’t help but sigh. All the kids that come through their program are unique, however, there’s always been a mild common ground within them to just have someone that they can trust. Phil has always worked off of that to get the kids to listen during the beginning of their stay, however, with Clint, Phil is beginning to realize the same isn’t the case with him. And he should have figured it wouldn’t be.

Clint lived on his own for two years.

And before that he was abused to the point that he was better off living on his own even if he was just a child.

He’s learned through experience that if you need something done you need to do it yourself. And that the only person you can  _ really _ trust is yourself. And because of this, Phil has a feeling the boy has no idea/the capability to accept help from others even when they honestly mean it.

“Clint, I promise this isn’t a trick. We need to get you clothes, so you’re not wearing the same two outfits everyday. I want to do this, sweetie,” Phil says as he bends down to be on one knee so he’s more leveled with the shorter stature boy.

“I don’t  _ need  _ anything,” Clint says once again, though, this time his voice sounds more similar to a whine than a command.

As Phil goes to reply, he’s cut off by a voice he hadn’t been expecting

“It’s not about needing, it’s about having,” Steve says with a roll of his eyes as he holds two plastic wrappings in his hand. “Come on, how about if you get choices, huh? Here, boxers or briefs?”

“Either are fine,” Clint says, though, his arms finally uncross as though he might be open to this way of choosing items.

“No that’s bullshit. No one likes both, you’ve got to have a preference or style length,” Steve says with a silly smile. “How about boxer briefs?”

“Y-yeah, those seem good,” Clint says, and Phil feels as though the Heavens had to of just opened up.

“Alright progress! We’ll grab a couple packs of those then,” Phil says as he grabs four packs of the extra small size before holding up four polo shirts. “How about we pick two?”

From there the process of gathering clothes goes much faster. Steve and Phil alternate holding up articles of clothing before finally Phil is happy with the amount of pieces they’ve collected. In theory, he wishes they could get a couple more, however, the anxious look was starting to form on Clint’s face again and Phil wanted to stop while they were on a high.

Eventually, they met back up with Bucky and Natasha, paid for the items of clothes, and made their way home where the tutors had just seemed to have arrived.

“Alright, guys, you all need to do your schoolwork for the day. Go with the tutors, and I’ll put the bags in your rooms. You can unpack everything later.”

The three older kids make their way into the living room, so Clint figures he should join them, however, once he’s there he’s not really sure what he should be doing. Apparently his lost look didn’t go unnoticed as one of the tutors gave him a small smile.

“And you must be Clint?” the man said after placing a packet of work down in front of Natasha. “I’m Sam, I’m gonna be working with you as your teacher until you’re ready to go back to school. It’s nice to meet you, Clint.”

Clint doesn’t say anything just nods as he allows himself to be guided into the family room area over towards a desk that already had the packet they had gotten from the school earlier in the day on it.

“Alright, bud, can you write your full name on the first page of the notebook along with how old you are and today’s date?” Sam instructs as he hands the boy a notebook and pencil.

Again, Clint doesn’t speak but he does grab the notebook from the man and open it up to the first page. The pencil in his hand feels weird because he hasn’t had to write things down in quite awhile, however, regardless of the feeling he begins to do what the man asked. With a shaky hand he begins to spell out his full name until there’s a  _ Clinton Francis Barton _ written in a scratchy handwriting across the top line– some letters being unproportioned to the others.

“Uh, sorry,” Clint says embarrassed as he analyzes how his handwriting turned out before dropping the pencil.

“There’s nothing to apologize for, that’s your name isn’t it?” Sam says as he looks at the paper.

“Y-yeah but it’s messy,” Clint says as he moves to rip the page out. “I can do it again.”

“No, no, Clint, there’s no need for that. Your handwriting is fine. This isn’t part of the placement testing, bud, it’s not a test or anything.”

“Oh, uh, okay, um, for my age do you want me to spell out the numbers or just like use the numbers?”

“How about we do both, hmm?”

Clint nod as he begins to write out  _ I am twe _ however when he once again puts the pencil down Sam can’t help but quirk his head at the boy.

“Um, h-how-how do you spell twelve?” Clint asks in an embarrassed manner because he knows this is something he should know how to spell.

“Hey, no need to be embarrassed it’s a hard word to get. You’re halfway there, though, so that’s good. It’s t-w-e-l-v-e.”

As Clint finishes writing out the rest of what Sam wanted, Phil makes his way into the room to explain to Clint what they’re gonna be doing. So apparently one exam is the school’s general entrance exam to place student’s in the correct grades, followed by another test that their home created that’s supposed to be more well versed. Sam was going to be with him throughout the whole thing and he was open for as many questions as needed. When Clint nodded his head in understanding, Phil smiled before leaving the two alone in the room once again.

* * *

Clint is once again seated on the window bench in his room later in the day, having just completed all the assignments Phil and Sam wanted him to do. He wasn’t sure how he should feel about the whole thing because he feels like he had to ask questions on every question in the packet which just proves he’ll definitely be placed in a grade lower than he should be in. He almost hopes they just decide school won’t even be able to benefit him and not have him do it because anything would be better than being constantly stuck at a first grade class level. As he dives deeper and deeper into his thoughts, he’s cut off by a knock on the wall.

“C’mon, we’re all hanging out downstairs. It’s much better to have the house on your side than against you, so if I were you I’d start hanging out with us,” Steve says with a grin as he enters the room.

“TV static hurts my ears, thanks though,” Clint chooses to explain because he has a feeling Steve isn’t looking to take  _ no _ for an answer.

“Just come on, we’ll do something with the TV off,” Steve says as he grabs the boy’s arm and begins to drag him down the stairs.

As the two get downstairs the first thing Clint notes is the unimpressed looks coming from both Natasha and Bucky, however, Steve seems to be choosing to ignore that.

“Come on, let’s go outside. It’s gonna be too cold eventually to just chill out in the yard,” Steve says as he continues to drag Clint outside with him– quickly shouting to Phil that they’ll all be in the front.

Clint wasn’t sure if the other two were gonna follow but sure enough they did. At first the four were quite literally just sitting out in the front yard, not speaking or anything. But eventually it seems Bucky got tired of the quiet and got up to grab a football.

“I’ve got Tasha, you can get the runt, Stevie, since it was your idea we all hang out,” he says before calling hut.

What started with an uncomfortable hangout, has now turned into a street football game that has actually managed to make Clint laugh a handful of times. Particularly when Phil sticks his head out the door because they all know they’d get in trouble if they got caught running in the street or in Clint’s case running at because of his broken ribs. Because of that it turned into a game within a game that was going great until Bucky punted the ball into the tree in their front yard.

“Bucky! That’s the third ball this month! We only have one left,” Natasha groans while looking up into the tree.

“I-I can get it,” Clint throws out real quick only to be met by three unimpressed looks.

“Yeah sure you can, runt. Don’t know if you’ve noticed but this tree is a bit taller than I don’t know  _ all of us?! _ ” Bucky says with a snort.

“I’m a good climber,” Clint says under his breath a bit as he begins to analyze the tree to see where the best angle to climb it would come from.

Just as Bucky was about to make another sarcastic comment, though, Clint begins to scale the tree as if he were a squirrel– easily being able to find a grip on the areas that should be impossible. He makes it to the first branch quick enough, and from there the climb upwards was a piece of cake. Soon enough one ball was being dropped from the tree followed by another and finally the remaining ball that had gotten stuck more towards the top of the tree.

With everyone being distracted by Clint in the tree, no one was keeping an eye on the door which is why no one noticed Phil pop his head out. Followed by no one noting that he began to make his way out of the house and approach them.

“Um, guys, where is Clint?” Phil asks in a slight panic. “And what are you looking at?”

All three heads are quick to snap to Phil with panicked expression which causes Phil to tilt his head up to look up the tree.

“Clinton Barton, get down from there  _ right now! _ ” Phil all but shouts causing for Sam as well as the other staff members on hand right now to come running out.

Clint could clearly hear the anger in Phil’s voice, but for some reason he chose that the best move would be to come down. So slowly, he maneuvers himself around the branches. As he was dangling from the last branch, ready to scale the trunk down the rest of the way, he finds hands grabbing his hips and pulling him the rest of the way down. As he’s placed onto solid ground he finds that it was– obviously– Phil who had grabbed him and the man was now crouched down to be at eye level with the most serious expression Clint had seen in the 48 hours he’d been in the house.

“Clint, what were you _ thinking?! _ You have a fractured wrist and two broken ribs! What made you think this was a good decision?!” Phil seethes out, though, his volume wasn’t anywhere near shouting.

“I-I’m good at climbing,” Clint says quietly, eyes not meeting the man. “We got the football stuck.”

“Did it not cross your guy’s mind to call me?” Phil now directs the question to everyone.

When no one answers he runs a hand across his face before pointing towards the house which did not require any verbal command for the kids to know they were to go inside. Clint was particularly strategic as he made his way inside to never have an adult out of his peripheral vision, which Phil couldn’t help but cringe at because he doesn’t want Clint to be scared of them.

“No more TV this afternoon for you four. Either be in the family room or your room. We’ll talk about this later in your one-on-ones,” Phil directs.

The other three are quick to do as they’re told, however, Clint’s internal fear has him frozen in to his spot. It seems as though Phil notices this, though, because soon enough there’s a gentle hand being placed on his shoulder that Clint can’t help but flinch back from.

“Clint, bud, are you okay?” Phil says in a way that makes Clint’s stomach hurt for some reason.

“I’m sorry,” the boy can’t help but mumble.

He has no idea why he’s actually apologizing because no one’s ever cared when he’s climbed things before, but Phil seems genuinely mad about it.

“Clint, I’m not mad at you, okay? I was just very scared to see you so high up in the tree; that’s really dangerous and you and your body are still on the mends. I was scared, not mad, okay?”

Phil smiles when Clint nods his head before once again grabbing the boy’s hand.

“Come on, we’re gonna go talk with Sam about you and school, okay?”

As Clint’s led into the kitchen he finds Sam sitting at the dining table with a cup of coffee in front of him with a small smile perched on his lips.

“Sup’ Spider-Man,” Sam jokes as he pulls a chair out for Clint to sit in. “You ready to review your exams?”

“I guess,” Clint mumbles as he folds his arms on top of the table and places his head down on top of his hands.

“Tell me this Clint, what was the last grade of school that  _ you _ remember finishing?”

“Um, I think, uh, third grade? No, um, fourth?” Clint says unsure. “I’m not really sure.”

“That’s okay, but based on that you actually did  _ very _ well on your placement tests,” Sam says with a smile.

“Really?!” Clint can’t help but asks in a manner of excitement.

“Yeah, buddy. You’ve got a big brain up there,” Phil says this time.

“I’m letting you know now, you’re gonna fit in great with Tony and Bruce because you are a little math wiz,” Sam adds in.

“Do you teach Bruce and Tony?” Clint asks curiously because they don’t seem like the type to have a tutor.

“Not exactly, but I’ve known them for quite some time. You see I used to be part of this program. I was one of Phil’s first wards actually. And then once I graduated I went to college, got my degree in education which is why I can act as a teacher to you guys, and now I’m getting my social work masters so I can become a bigger part here.”

“That’s cool, um, so what-what grade am I supposed to be in?”

“So there’s a couple answers to that. At your age you fall to being in either sixth or seventh grade because your birthday puts you on the cusp of either grade. Based on your tests scores, though, overall we’re right now at about a fifth grade testing level on average, however, this isn’t across the board.

“On topics like math and physics, you’re above average– specifically when you verbalize the answer. For science and history, you fall around average. However, where you struggle is the literature and grammar topics. Because of this you had some difficulties with the school’s exam, but when you verbalized things on our exam you were able to show you do know and understand concepts,” Sam says.

“M’not good at reading, the letters move around a lot,” Clint mumbles while looking at the paper.

“That’s another thing I noticed with your writing. You know, there’s a name for that right?”

“Stupid?” Clint answers quite seriously that has both Sam and Phil immediately shaking their heads.

“No, not at all,” Phil jumps in. “It’s something called dyslexia. It makes reading and writing difficult because you flip what letters and numbers look like. But luckily there are ways to help with this.”

“Phil’s right,” Sam adds. “And that’s what we’re gonna do together, okay? I think for the remainder of this semester you’re gonna work with me, and then come January we’ll see if we can move you into the school. We’ll work on reading and writing probably a bit more than other topics, but you’ll still get all your basic classes, too. I think this week we’ll just get to know each other and do a bit more messing around to see exactly where you are in certain topics, and then next week we’ll start on a more structured schedule. This sound good?”

“Sounds good.”


	5. Chapter 5

As Clint’s first week in the house comes to an end, Phil can only be glad no fights broke out within the household. On a behavioral level, Clint is nowhere near being one of Phil’s most difficult charges. However, that doesn’t mean he’s had an easy transition into the household. His interactions with the other house members are slim, he doesn’t speak in group, and he isn’t much better during his one-on-ones. The biggest struggle of them all, though, has been the nightly nebulizer treatments. He will fight tooth and nail so as to not do them, but Phil has found that if they do it away from the rest of the house the boy won’t fight as much.

Today’s Sunday, though, which means it’s a day for everyone to relax. There’s no set wake up time, no classes/tutor sessions, chores are able to be done at a leisurely pace, and overall everyone is in a relatively good mood. It’s a day that Phil often looks forward to, so as the morning went on he was glad that things were going smoother than other moments of the week had been.

But he knew that this wasn’t something that could last long.

“Thor! Games on!” Steve shouted from the living room just as the opening music for NFL Sunday Gameday began to kick in.

Clint had been walking down from his room to go grab some water just as Steve yelled up the stairs, and had he not been able to feel the vibrations in the stairs he feared he would easily have been tackled by the running blonde man. Luckily he moved out of the way just in time, though, he did stumble as he reached the bottom step, and the only reason he didn’t trip completely was due to a set of arms balancing him out.

“Need help walking now, too?” Bucky snorted as he removed his hands from the boy’s upper arms.

“Didn’t need your help,” Clint grunts as he pushes the older boy away from him rather harshly.

“You’ve said that a couple of times now, and yet I keep on having to help you,” Bucky said as he shoved the boy back, much lighter than Clint had done.

Regardless of how light Bucky shoved the boy Clint appeared to not be okay with is and soon enough a fist was being drawn back. Just as Clint was about to take a swing as the significantly bigger boy, he felt someone grasp it from behind as another arm wrapped itself around his chest.

“Nuh-uh, Clint, breathe. We’re not starting fights this early in the day especially about something silly like this,” Phil says in a booming voice as he begins to guide the boy into the family room so that they can have their sit down earlier than anticipated. “Go sit down Clint, and Bucky if you don’t behave you’ll be spending the rest of the day doing all the chores on the chore wheel.”

“I didn’t even-” Bucky begins to argue only to get cut off.

“Don’t wanna hear it right now. Just behave and watch your football game. No more taunting.”

As Phil shut the door he couldn’t help but sigh as he began to rub his temple to fight the building migraine. As he turned around though he couldn’t help but frown at how Clint has once again sat himself on the floor, back against the wall, knees tucked up under his chin.

“Come sit up on the couch, Clint,” Phil advises. The boy scoots forward towards the couch until he is positioned in front of the coffee table right in front of the couch, however, he remains sitting on the floor. “Alright then, let’s sit here.”

“You can sit on the couch,” Clint says when he sees Phil beginning to adjust himself on the floor in front of the boy, the table being the only barrier between the two.

“As can you, but if you prefer to sit down here I can make do with that,” Phil says and gives the boy a moment to move, however, when he doesn’t he continues. “What happened with Bucky?”

“He’s stupid!” Clint couldn’t help but immediately reply.

And, honestly, this is the most honest Clint’s been since getting here. While Phil doesn’t like the kids calling each other’s names, in Clint’s case this is the closest thing they’ve had to a breakthrough during their one-on-ones.

“Alright, let’s try to think of a different word to use. What occurred that makes you think he’s stupid?”

“H-he-he just is! He thinks cause he’s older that he knows more and can do more, but-but I know things, too! I’m not just some little kid!” Clint can’t help but seethe, resting his forehead between his hands in frustration.

“You’re very smart Clint, very resourceful and intuitive. You can’t let Bucky’s teasing comments get to you like this, though, alright? I don’t think Bucky is stupid, but I know that sometimes he speaks before thinking. And he’s not the best at realizing when he’s pushed buttons a little too hard. But, once people tell him he’s really good at backing off. So you wanna know something that you can potentially do?”

“What?”

“During group, something we often do is if there are any grievances between housemates you’re allowed to talk it out during that time. And that way you can also make it known to everyone what certain things you don’t like being said or done to you.”

“He’ll just call me a whining little kid,” Clint said, now looking up at the man again.

“No he won’t because that’s not what group is for. Group is meant for conversation,” Phil says to the boy genuinely. “Would you like to try doing that later today?”

Clint sat quietly for a bit, but Phil could tell the boy was thinking about it all. He could see the thoughts swirling in the boy’s head with how fidgety he began to become the longer he stayed silently sitting. Just as Phil thought the boy was going to speak up, though, someone knocked on the door only to then have the head of Nick Fury pop in.

“Just wanted to let you know I’m here, but you guys can finish up your conversation,” Nick said as he noticed the two were having a serious moment.

However, before the man could retract his form, Clint was standing up exiting the room leaving Phil to assume their conversation was over.

“We’re just about done. How about us three go talk in my office?” Phil says as he also stands and begins to make his way through the living room, placing a gentle arm around Clint’s shoulder as he guides him into his office space.

The second Clint walked through the doors he was quick to shrug Phil’s arm from his shoulder, however, much to Phil’s pleasure the boy seated himself in a chair rather than the typical spot on the ground Clint likes to take. Nick then grabbed the chair beside the boy, giving him a small smile as he noticed the boy kicking his legs back-n-forth on the seat since he couldn’t quite reach the floor.

“So I know you’ve probably got a lot on your plate today, Phil, so we can jump right into it: how was your first week here, Clint?” Nick asks, turning between Phil to the boy.

“It was fine, got new hearing aids,” Clint replies.

“That’s good. Yeah I heard from your doctor that we got your physical done, and I’m glad that we’re getting everything taken care of. I’m a little bit more curious on how your week here at the house was?.”

“Like I said, it was fine,” Clint said again, though, this time he’s quick to throw a glare up at his social worker.

“Alright, well, we’re gonna look at your folder for the week, so I just wanted to give you a chance to discuss anything I see in it. I’m guessing I’m gonna be getting nothing but  _ fine _ remarks,” Nick states in a neutral voice.

Upon that statement, Phil can’t help but notice the subtle change in the boy’s body language, which from past experience he knows is what Nick was intending for. He knows Nick doesn’t actually care what the folders say. Sure he likes to know how his charges are doing, but he doesn’t care whether they behaved incredibly or poorly that week according to Phil’s flow sheet. What he does care about is making sure the kids own up to what they do, whether good or bad. He likes communication, which is why Phil has always thought of Nick as his favorite social worker.

Nick gives the boy a moment to speak up, however, when he doesn’t he turns back to Phil and extends a hand out for the folder from the week. Inside was a report from Phil, Maria, Sam, and a general comment sheet from the other workers in the house who may have had small interactions with Clint throughout the day but not enough to get their own sheet.

“Hmm, this is interesting,” Nick states as he skims through the papers. “Seems like you’ve been marked for having a couple of spats with housemates and you’re not participating in group or with the counselors. Oh, wait, this is good, or rather it’s fine, though. Seems like you haven’t had problems doing your chores and following most of the house rules. Oh, and Sam gave you good marks on doing your school work.”

“See? Fine,” Clint says, though, you could tell that he didn’t actually believe Nick would think his write up was fine.

“Actually when we look at the overall ranking for yourself this week I think you fall under having some rather poor behavior. There’s a lot of  _ needs improvement  _ marked down, huh, strange, there’s even some  _ needs improvement _ marked under personal habits. Should I set up a lesson to teach you how to use silverware and how to take a proper shower?”

Phil could see the anger growing on Clint’s face with every comment Nick made. He knew this is what the older man was trying to do; he was trying to get Clint to realize he’s allowed to express his feelings and emotions, however, this time around Phil isn’t sure it’s in the best interest of Clint for Nick to be doing this. However, it seemed Phil chose to jump in a bit too late.

“Nick, I don’t think-” Phil starts only for the small boy seated on the seat jumps upward, chair crashing onto the floor in the process.

“You’re such a dick! You pretend that you care about kids but you don’t! You probably just like going around finding broken kids and pushing them as much as you can only to always come back and tell them they ain’t worth shit. Well it won’t work on me, alright?! That paper doesn’t say shit, I’m fine!” Clint screams, and before he could approach Nick and do god knows what, Phil was able to rush around the table and restrain the boy back.

Now Phil’s used to swearing in the house, however, Clint’s the youngest ward he’s had, and he won’t lie by saying the boy’s strong language threw him for a twist. He also was slightly surprised at what the boy chose to say because it actually did share some of his current emotions.

“Clint, breathe, okay? Breathe, calm down, and I’ll let you go,” Phil states as the boy struggles against his chest.

It takes the boy a couple of breaths, but he does manage to calm himself down on his own.

“Clint, can you look at me?” Nick says this time, his figure now crouched down on one knee so that he is below Clint’s height. The boy huffs out a couple more times before his eyes lock on the older man. “I know you probably don’t see it right now, but I do care about you and that’s why I come by to check on how you’re doing. But I want you to listen to that statement again: I come here to know how  _ you’re _ doing. I’m not coming to read what Phil and Maria and all the other staff members have to say about you and how they think you’re doing. If that’s all I cared about I would have them just fax me a copy. Your name has quite literally been on my desk for two years. Believe me when I say I’m invested in how you’re doing, and I want to make sure we can do everything possible to make sure the system doesn’t fail you anymore.”

Clint’s eyes at one point or another turned away from Nick, however, by the way his body actually appeared to visibly relax, everyone could tell he was still listening. 

“M’sorry I yelled at you,” Clint manages to force himself say, though, you can tell it is a genuine apology.

“It’s okay, Clint, I’ve had some much nastier things said to me,” Nick says now back in his tall standing stance. “Now, I’m not gonna push you to talk to me today, but I will be coming back next Sunday again. I’m hoping next week we’re able to talk about things before I see your folder, okay? For now, though, is there anything you want to say or ask me?”

There was a clear moment when a thought popped into Clint’s head, however, there was also a clear retraction of the idea of asking. Nick was going to encourage the boy to speak up, however, with a subtle nudge from Phil, Nick decided to allow the boy to decide for himself he wants to bring it up. It took a couple more moments before finally the boy was taking a big breath and looking back up to the two adults.

“Where’s Barney?” Clint all but whispers.

And honestly, Phil is shocked they’ve lasted a week without the boy questioning the whereabouts of his brother.

“Your brother was taken to the local precinct for assault a couple weeks ago. He had his preliminary hearing where the judge set out a bail, but last I was informed he hadn’t been able to post bail. So right now he’s waiting for sentencing which will probably be in a couple of weeks,” Nick explained.

“D-does he know I got caught, too?” Clint asks innocently that Phil nearly couldn’t hold back his coo.

“I wouldn’t say we caught you, kid. You were a missing kid and now you’re not. But yes he was informed you had been found during his bail hearing through his lawyer.”

“Can-uh- is there- um, can I see him?”

Nick and Phil both have to look away from the boy’s hopeful eyes because, honestly, they don’t know how to answer him. In cases of runaway siblings, it isn’t always the best to bring them back together especially when one of them is now in a custody sort of setting. On the other hand, the boy hasn’t asked for anything else since being found, and this could be used as a way to gain more of his trust.

“It’s something we can look into, bud,” Phil says, now crouching down similar to how Nick had earlier. “There are no promises because jails have a lot of regulations and you’re gonna be starting real classes with Sam soon, so that on top of our group and regular sessions you’re gonna have a lot on your plate. But we can look into it, alright?”

“I’ll be real good, I can be real good,” Clint mumbles while looking down. “Just maybe?”

“We can definitely give you a maybe,” Nick says while shuffling the boy’s hair up.

As Clint shot the man a beaming smile, Nick wished the two a good week before exiting the office.

“Clint, what do you think of us finishing our one-on-one after dinner tonight? We’ll probably have group around five-ish, so that gives you a bit of time in between to relax and do your own thing,” Phil says as he begins to collect some stuff from his desk.

“Alright,” the boy says without question before walking out of the office leaving the older man to chuckle at how nonchalant and sporadic the boy’s mood can be.

* * *

After the meeting with Nick, Clint had gone to go seek refuge in his room, however, after being up there for just a bit over an hour Scott– one of the staff members that apparently works mainly weekends– made the boy come downstairs for lunch and hopefully to get him to interact with everyone else. Maria smiled upon seeing the boy and she was glad to receive a smile back, however, you couldn’t help but sigh when no one else in the house acknowledged the boy and instead all kept up with their own group conversation.

Lunch seemed quiet, though, Maria knew it wasn’t. On one side of the table Bruce, Natasha, Pepper, and Thor all were talking and joking amongst each other, however, her eyes kept going to Clint who remained silent the entire meal. She could see his eyes on the group, though, it was fixed more with a look of confusion than desire to enter the conversation. As if even with his new hearing aids he was having difficulty deciphering who was saying what or maybe things were just clustering together. Regardless of what it was, it was definitely something Maria was gonna ask Clint about or at the very least mention to Phil so he could try to figure something out.

Maria!” A voice dralled on, drawing her attention back to the rest of the table. As she turns her head back to her four main wards she noted that it was Natasha who had called her. “Can we go outside?”

“Yeah that sounds like a good idea, it’s a beautiful day outside, I was even thinking we would do group in front of the fireplace tonight,” Maria said with a smile.

She notes the four smiles being casted back over to her as well as one intrigued look. Without another word, though, the four smiling faces are quick to put their dishes in the sink and enter out the back door. Maria can’t help but be hopeful as she sees Clint get up to put his stuff in the sink that the boy follows the other kids outside, however, she frowns when she notices the boy just moving to do dishes.

“Are you still on dish duty, Clint? Who’s supposed to be helping you?” Maria says as she stands from the table.

“I didn’t know when the wheel switches but I think so,” the boy mumbles shyly. “Bucky’s been doing them with me.”

“We switch during group on Sunday, and since Bucky isn’t here right now I’ll help you with these,” Maria says with a smile.

“Where’s Bucky?”

“I believe Phil took him, Steve, and Tony out to a movie for their monthly adventure.”

In all honesty, Maria should have realized that Clint may have been a bit upset about not being included in the group's outing since he is one of Phil’s wards, however, she wasn’t expecting the solemn expression that took over his face. In fact, she actually hadn’t even noticed the boy was put off by the whole thing until she was reaching for the last plate to dry. No one could miss the way the boy was practically biting his lip off to prevent himself from making any noises, as well as the slightest bit of moisture building near his eyes.

“Clint, are you okay, sweetheart?” Maria says, kneeling in front of the boy like so many adults had been doing to him all day long. Rather than actually replying Clint just furiously nods his head as he’s quick to bring the sleeve of his hoodie up towards his face to wipe anything away from his eyes. “Hun, it’s okay. If you want to-”

“Can I go outside?” Clint manages to rush out, and though Maria would rather talk to the boy she knows she hasn’t built the relationship Phil has been working on, and doesn’t want to hinder any potential progress that has been made.

“Of course, honey, go on and join everyone outside,” Maria says, now standing, allowing for the boy to quickly run by her.

As Clint got outside he couldn’t help but mentally burrate himself because why was he getting so upset that Phil didn’t invite him to the movies? On top of him being new in the house, he hadn’t behaved well this week. He had nearly fought two people today alone, so it shouldn’t be a shock at all...but for some reason he was still hurt by it all. Wiping at his face once more, he began to walk into the yard where he was quick to note Bruce and Thor were playing a game of HORSE while Natasha and Pepper seemed to be laid out tanning while each reading a book.

Not exactly knowing what to do, Clint made his way over to where the two girls were sitting so that he was near the group and Maria couldn’t force him inside to talk about anything more.

“Hi Clint, decided to finally give us all a chance into proving we’re not all rude?” Pepper says with a smile to the boy as she marks a page on her book.

“I-I never thought you were rude,” Clint says while giving the girl a confused look, head tilted to the side.

“The faces you give us all during lunch and dinner would say otherwise,” Natasha says this time.

“Yeah, you’ve got a very expressive face,” Pepper chuckles, flipping over so that she’s now laying on her stomach and tilts her sunglasses down ever so slightly.

“Oh, um, I can’t- I couldn’t-, uh, it’s hard to hear what everyone’s saying when everyone talks at the same time or there’s different conversations. I get confused,” Clint explains while tucking his knees under his chin and turning his body to look towards Thor and Bruce since he felt Natasha and Pepper weren’t his biggest fans.

“Oh my god, I didn’t realize that,” Pepper says in a voice so genuine that Clint is more than slightly shocked. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to come off as a bitch right now, just we’ve had new kids come into the house who think they’re too good for everyone. Like never talk to anyone and just like act judgey about everyone else’s issues that are mentioned during group.”

“S’okay, I’m used to it,” Clint says before going back to watching the guys play.

“So how come you didn’t go with Phil and the rest of your group?” Natasha asks the boy, curious as to why he had been left behind.

“Wasn’t invited.”

“Well, that’s not too surprising. Phil likes to wait for us to adjust before we’re allowed to go on adventures out of the house,” Pepper says.

“Well, we can go on adventures within the house, c’mon let’s go do something, Clint,” Natasha says.

The boy gives her a questioning look as if to ask if she’s serious. Since their one time at Target he and Natasha hadn’t really talked. And like his memories of her from that day weren’t the best, but at the same time she had been having a rough day so he knows she probably is actually nice and not always so hot tempered.

“Well?” she asks in an impatient manner.

“You wanna play with me?” Clint questions, head once again quirked to the side.

Natasha threw a glare to Pepper when she cooed at the boy before looking back to the smaller boy with an unimpressed expression.

“I’m 14, Clint, I don’t  _ play _ . I’m just suggesting we do something so that you don’t have to keep looking like a kicked puppy waiting for Phil to come back.”

“Oh, yeah, I didn’t mean play. I don’t play either,” Clint stumbles over his words causing Pepper to stifle a chuckle, as he begins to get to his feet. “What do you wanna do?”

“How about we collect some wood so that Phil can’t say no to group in front of the firepit? It’ll also mean we get marshmallows for dessert,” Natasha suggests as she puts her bathing suit cover back on.

Clint doesn’t even reply; he just follows after the older girl over to the edge of the yard where they could find larger sticks. As the two begin to collect firewood, Bruce and Thor take over the chair Natasha had just been sitting on and look at Pepper with goofy smiles.

“Can’t believe we finally got a puppy!” Thor teases.

“Thor do not!” Pepper says while smiling as she lightly slaps Thor with her book. “Not to quote Bucky or anything, but he definitely does have a bit of a bite.”

“Not from what I see,” Bruce adds in before looking up to make sure they’re still far enough away that Clint wouldn’t be able to hear them. “All of his, like,  _ machismo _ goes out the window at night or something. When I walk into the room to go to bed he’s curled up on his bed with his back to me and Tony’s side, but, like, he’s shaking like a leaf. Like he’s waiting for someone to come up and pull something on him. I don’t think he’s been sleeping cause there’s been times when I wake up at night and he’s just sitting up on his bed looking around the room. Tony and I have considered telling Phil, but, like, kids only been here a week so we’re thinking he’s still just adjusting.”

“Has anyone been able to confirm a story about him?” Pepper asks as she looks towards the two, very aware that Natasha is hanging out with him so that Pepper could get gossip but also with only the slightest bit of intentions to befriend the boy. Or at least so Natasha claims.

“Can definitely confirm he was a runaway and lived on the streets for the past two years. Can’t imagine being 10 years old and on the streets. Like I had bad foster homes, but I would have been dead or caught within a couple weeks if I were on the street,” Bruce says.

“Well he wasn’t alone. Heard Nick mentioning something about a brother. I guess that’s the only reason Clint actually got caught. His brother got arrested, and when they finger printed him they realized that these runaways were alive so they started looking for Clint again. Think his brother is older though, like aged out,” Thor adds in.

“Maybe we should force him to hang with everyone more, maybe he’ll stop just sitting on the floor then,” Pepper says while giving the boy one last glance before going back to her book.

* * *

“Did you have a nice time  _ playing _ stick collectors?”

Clint had just walked into the kitchen to fill up his water bottle when the teasing voice came up behind him out of nowhere. As he whipped himself around, though, he already knew who he’d be seeing so the glare had already been present on his face.

“I wasn’t playing! I was just helping,” Clint says with a glare as he goes on with his original task.

“Nah I heard you got all excited when Tasha said you should go do something. Got all puppy-eyed and ready to play,” Bucky remarks back as he reaches over the back of the boy to grab an orange.

Clint could feel the anger he had felt pent up all day return to his chest, however, somehow he knew he needed to calm down. And more surprisingly he was able to calm himself down on his own.

“Whatever, I don’t care,” Clint mumbles as he tries to get around the bigger boy.

“What, no comeback of not being a kid? Huh, look at that, growing up right before our eyes.”

As Clint managed to push past the older boy, he also had to maneuver himself around Steve as well who had just walked into the kitchen. He figured since Bucky and Steve are best friends the blonde boy would also try to make some teasing comments, so he was quick to try and find somewhere to hide out until group session began. Because he was more concerned with getting out of the room, though, he didn’t notice Steve’s unimpressed, if not angry, look he had directed straight at Bucky.

Clint knew it was pointless to go up to his room cause he’d be told that group is starting soon, plus Bruce and Tony were up there working on some tech thing or another. Everyone else was in front of the couch watching the end of some movie, but Clint didn’t feel like sitting near them at the moment. Scared that Natasha had thought his  _ play _ comment was more ridiculous than she had initially led on and got the whole house to laugh at him over it. 

As he looked around for somewhere to seek refuge, the front door caught his eye.

Throughout the week he saw nearly everyone in the house freely walk out the front door and sit out on one of the rocking chairs on the front porch. He doesn’t specifically remember being told he could do that, but it wasn’t on the list of places that Phil had told him he needed supervision to be on. As he walked out the door, he even chose to leave the main door open and just shut the glass paneled one so that people inside would know he’s planning on booking it.

As he sits in the rocking chair all he can do is think. Not about just one thing, but about everything. He’s been here one week, and just everything is already so different. With so many thoughts going through his head, without even realizing it he took his hearing aids out because right now he didn’t want those other noises.

Barney’s in jail.

He has a bed.

He gets more than three meals a day.

No one’s hit him.

No one’s hurt him.

He can  _ hear _ .

For the first time in nearly two years, he doesn’t hurt or ache.

People are calling him his name.

As thoughts continue to spiral through his mind, he doesn’t notice the flurry of movement going on just at the edge of his peripheral vision. He wasn’t able to hear people shouting his name out. And honestly he hadn’t even registered if he’d been outside long or not.

None of that registered until a hand was reaching out and gripping onto his arm.

_ “I got him!” _ Clint was able to read the lips of Scott.

Too shocked at the whole situation, Clint can’t help but flinch backwards as well as stay cowered in on himself. He’s hardly able to unravel himself as he’s pulled up from the chair, hand still gripped around his bicep, and pulled into the house. As he enters, though, Phil comes running from up the stairs and immediately is on his knees in front of the boy.

“ _ I was so worried. We -- -- your name, why -- you answer? _ ” Phil speaks, but he’s talking fast and Clint can’t hear and Scott’s grip on his arm is really tight and he doesn’t know what to do as he feels his breath get faster and faster while his chest becomes tighter.

Clint doesn’t really register what happens over the next couple of moments, but when he finally does come to he can hear his own voice mumbling over and over again.

“I was outside, was outside. Can’t hear, I was outside,” Clint says over and over before he manages to finally blink himself back into consciousness where the first and only thing he sees is Phil’s face.

“Hey, hey, buddy, it’s all alright. It’s alright, you’re back with us now and everything’s okay, huh? Yeah that was all scary I’m sure, for more than one of us definitely. You’re not in trouble, Clint, we all just got a bit scared and some people panicked,” Phil says.

His voice is soft and quiet but Clint can hear him loud and clear. The next thing he begins to realize is that his hand is pressed against Phil’s chest while the other one has part of Phil’s shirt tightly gripped in a fist.

“You with me, bud?” Phil asks as he notices the boy fully coming back to his surroundings.

“Y-yeah, I-I’m here, I’m okay,” Clint mumbles, slowly retracting his hand.

“Yeah you’re okay, some people overreacted a bit and things got out of hand. And for that I am very sorry, but you handled yourself very well. How are you feeling? How’s your chest?”

As Clint thought about the question he realized it was actually hard for him to breathe, but not because he couldn’t catch his breath. More so because it felt like his lungs were beginning to drown in on themselves a bit.

“S’tight, hard to catch my breath,” Clint answers honestly.

“Alright, well, I think we’ll double up on nebulizer treatments today then. Let's get that set up and then we’re gonna go outside for group, alright? Heard you and Tasha collected the sticks for a fire, that was a great idea.”

“Hafta do it in front of everyone?”

“ ‘Fraid so, bud, but don’t worry your doctor said if you need a session in the afternoon like this then we only need to do it for 10 to 15 minutes, so it won’t be the whole time.”

True to Phil’s words, the man was quick to set up the nebulizer up for the boy outside where Thor and Steve were strategically building the fire. Clint had gotten set up at a point where the smoke was away from him, and honestly Phil’s wondering if this is the way to show Clint he’s allowed to sit on the chairs by just setting him up himself. Regardless, the sessions quick to start from there. Everyone’s going around the circle doing their high and low until it gets to Clint.

All eyes fall on him, and he knows he can call out on doing it. Phil had reminded him so just before coming outside. But for some reason he felt the need to finally speak up in this group if he didn’t want any more moments of “miscommunication” to occur.

“Um,” the boy begins, and though it wasn’t even a word all eyes widened comically at the slightest bit of effort made. “Guess my high is that, uh, m’not hungry. But, um, my low is this nebulizer.”

It wasn’t deep or profound and didn’t share much of him, but Phil knew this was a transitional point.


	6. Chapter 6

Clint’s curled up on one of the bean bag chairs in the family room. He didn’t close the door because he doesn’t care if people come in or not, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t glad people didn’t come into the room.

He has some of the worksheets Sam gave him on his lap, but he’s not really doing them. At first he was but then he got confused and decided he’d rather wait to do them with the man tomorrow. So now the boy just remains curled up as he lets his earlier thoughts consume him while absentmindedly rubbing a hand over his bicep where Scott has grabbed at earlier. The only thing that jolts the boy from his thoughts is Phil coming through the doorway about ten minutes later.

“Hey, bud, how you doing?” Phil asks as he pulls a bean bag up next to the boy.

“M’fine,” Clint mumbles, eyes now casted down.

“I’m really proud of you for speaking in group today. That was a real big improvement.”

“Just said my high and low.”

“That still counts as speaking, buddy. It’s always up to you if you talk or not, but I just wanted you to know I’m really proud.”

Clint nods his head as he continues to rub at his arm.

“So I’m leaving it up to you cause it’s getting near lights out for you, but would you wanna do our one on one right now or would you rather do it tomorrow morning and push back tutoring a bit?”

Phil can see the contemplation cross Clint’s face before finally the boy’s sighing as he just barely rotates his body to face Phil a bit more head on.

“So Maria mentioned to me that you may be having some trouble with your hearing aids still?”

“S’okay, it’s just hard to hear a lot of people sometimes. They’re real loud,” Clint mumbles as he subconsciously goes to fiddle with them.

“You know I think your actual ones are going to be ready by tomorrow. Maybe we can go in and do a couple more tests to make sure they’re what you need. Sometimes it’s not good for them to be  _ real _ loud.”

When Clint just nods Phil gives a soft smile while making note of the plan.

“She also mentioned at lunch you may not have been feeling the best, wanna talk about that?”

“I was fine.”

“Clint it’s okay to be upset. Most of the kids here are upset. But we can only help if you tell us what it is that’s upsetting you.”

The look of contemplation is back on Clint’s face, and it seems the boy is full of surprises today because although he turns his head into his knees Phil can still hear him clearly.

“Y-you’re in charge of me, b-but-but you went out with Steve, Tony, and B-Bucky without me. I didn’t even know you left.”

And yeah Phil should have figured that would bother the boy especially considering he’s 12 years old. 12 year olds don’t understand being left out, and honestly it’s all on Phil in this case.

“You’re right that wasn’t fair of me was it? I’m really sorry I didn’t include you in our outing or letting you know that I wasn’t going to be home for a bit. The first month people are in the house they tend to not go on counselor outings because it’s usually a privilege you earn. So you may not have earned that privilege yet, but you have definitely earned having me explain situations to you and for that I am very sorry.”

“S’okay, didn’t really behave last week.”

“You were adjusting, buddy. Coming into a new house with new people and all these rules after being on your own for a long time is hard on anyone. But you’re doing better already. Steve told me after dinner Bucky made some comments to you, and rather than letting your anger take over you walked away. That’s a huge improvement, kiddo.”

Clint shrugs as he goes back to rubbing his upper arm.

“Think you wanna talk about your weekly report next?”

Phil sees the boy’s body stiffen for a moment before vaguely relaxing as he nods his head.

“So, Sam says you’re doing great. Not complaining about assignments and always trying everything on your own before asking for help. He does make a note that for some of the homework he gives you, he’s noticing you seem to give up a bit early when the problems get difficult.”

“Don’t wanna get ‘em wrong.”

“It’s alright to be wrong sometimes. It helps you learn from mistakes. So I think this week, one of our goals to write down should be trying to complete your assignments even if you think you’re wrong. Sounds good?”

Clint sighs, but nods his head.

“Alright, and yup all the caretakers in the house agree you’re top notch at doing your chores, and that’s something I really appreciate. You’ve been respecting the rules except for one with house scuffles, but like I said earlier transitioning is hard. What do you think is something we can do to lower your number of arguments with housemates for this week?”

“Um, when I feel- uh, when I wanna yell at someone or something I can, uh, go into a different room?”

“Yeah that’s a really good suggestion, so I’m gonna put that down. We’re putting a small chime alarm on the front door so we know when people step outside, so I want you to know you’re free to go outside to the chairs whenever you want, okay? You can also come into my office, the family room like you did today, and you can even go into the garage.”

“My room, too.”

“Yeah your room, too, but that’s another thing I think we’re gonna have to work on this week. A consistent comment across the board is that you’ve been isolating yourself from the other kids, spending more time in your room alone than with anyone else. It doesn’t have to be a goal this week because we don’t wanna overload it, but I think a future goal is gonna have to be house interactions. You did great today hanging with Natasha, and I think that’s something we should try to continue.”

“T-they think m’rude,” Clint mumbles.

“Who said that?”

“Doesn’t matter, s’just what they said. Thought I was rude cause I didn’t talk to ‘em, but I couldn’t hear ‘em.”

“Thanks for letting me know that, bud. I think that’s all the more reason we should get a couple more tests done for your ears, so we can make sure you can hear everyone. Alright, now, do you think there’s anything else we need to talk about from this past week?”

Phil furrows his eyebrows as he notices Clint once again rubbing at his arm, however, the boy is speaking up before he can mention it.

“M-Mr. Fury said I need to work on cutting stuff an-and hygiene stuff. I-I don’t understand.”

And now it’s Phil’s turn to sigh as he thinks of a way to approach this.

“It’s not your fault, bud, and that’s why I wasn’t gonna bring it up today, but we’ve noticed that some of your personal habits are a bit underdeveloped than most people your age. Sam was gonna bring it up tomorrow but we were gonna start going over some basic personal habit lessons tomorrow.”

“L-like what?”

“Well, gonna teach you how to use a knife properly so it’s easier to cut food, and also holding pens and pencils the right way so your hand doesn’t start to hurt as quick. We’ve also noticed that even, though, I know you shower everyday your hair is a bit greasy and there just seems to be a layer of dirt that won’t come off you.”

Clint remains quiet at the explanation but his arms tighten around his knees as he places his head back between them while trying to suppress a sniffle.

“Hey, hey, hey it’s okay. I didn’t mean this in a way to make fun of you or anything. It’s just something we’ve noticed and wanted to talk about.”

“I-I-I d-don’t like to sh-shower,” Clint mumbles into his knees.

“How come, buddy?” Phil asks, confused at the revelation.

“Can-can’t hear when I have to shower, so-so I do it quick. I-I don’t like not hearing wh-when people are in with me,” Clint stutters out. 

And yeah Phil should have been able to piece that together. Here we have a boy who has been abused and what seems to be  _ every _ way possible, so who can blame him for not wanting to be left any more vulnerable when he’s quite literally in his most vulnerable position.

“Clint, can you look at me?” Phil asks in a soft voice. Clint sniffles a few times before finally he’s lifting his head, and Phil has to stop himself from cooing at the boy’s tear filled, innocent eyes. “This is on me, okay? This is on me that I made you feel unsafe and vulnerable for the past week. I should have asked you how we can make you most comfortable when you need to be in the washroom, and I’m so sorry I didn’t realize before this.What scares you most about it all? The fact that you can’t hear in the bathroom? Or that there are other people in there with you?”

“I-I don’t like be-being n-na-na-naked around other people,” Clint all but sobs this time around.

Phil doesn’t even think as he lifts the boy from his bean bag chair and onto his lap to help calm him down. He reasons it’s so he doesn’t have to give the boy a third nebulizer treatment, but he knows internally it’s because in this moment he can truly see the little boy inside Clint that’s just craving to be comforted.

“Shh, shh, it’s alright just breathe. I’m gonna figure out a new solution for you, alright? I’m gonna figure this all out.”

Phil rubs a hand up and down the boy’s back as small cries continue to leave his lips before he once again notices the boy rubbing at his upper arm.

“Does your arm hurt, buddy? Can I take a look, please?”

Clint gives a small nod as Phil begins to lift up the boy’s sleeve only to hardly hold back a gasp at the forming bruise that resembles a perfect hand clamped around his bicep.

“Clint, this is new. Who grabbed you like this?”

“S-Scott,” the boy chokes out, and Phil’s realizing the boy’s gonna need the nebulizer regardless of his actions based on the wheezing sound that is now escaping his lips.

The man doesn’t say anything in return and instead stands from his position, Clint subconsciously wrapping his legs around the man’s waist as he carries him from the family room and into the kitchen to get him some bruise balm and his breathing equipment.

“Looks like, Puppy, had a rough day,” Bucky snorts under his breath.

“Bucky, bed, now. Early lights out the rest of the week,” Phil states without even a second thought as he continued his walk to the kitchen, not waiting to hear the protests.

Phil sets Clint up on one of the counters as he asks the couple of staffers in the room to go make sure Bucky goes to bed while also grabbing some ibuprofen and the bruise balm from the medicine cabinet.

“Okay, buddy, I don’t like this wheezing so we’re gonna do this for ten minutes and then it’s bed time. Now I need you to listen, I have some bruise balm that can help relax the blood vessels and I want to put it on you, do you mind if we take off your shirt so I can put it on all the bruises on your torso and arm?”

As Phil puts the nebulizer around Clint’s mouth the boy nods his head, eyes beginning to droop shut in the process which causes the older man to coo. Gently he removes the boy’s shirt and just barely manages to hold in his gasp because the bruises somehow look worse than they did at the doctor’s office, though, he knows it’s just because they’re aging out. As Phil begins to apply the balm along the boy’s arms, torso, and back he hears a sharp gasp come from the entryway of the kitchen.

“Bucky, I thought I said bed!” Phil says to the boy, face daring him to make a comment at Clint.

“I-I just wanted some water, I’m going up now,” the boy says, eyes still wide as he takes in Clint’s discolored figure.

The boy gets his water and quickly rushes up to his room without any further comments, and though Phil likes to keep each kids’ record of why they’re in the house private until they say so, he’s glad that Bucky saw this because  _ maybe  _ the boy will lay off now just a bit. By the time Clint finishes his treatment he’s practically asleep with his head rested against Phil’s shoulder. 

The man coos as he rubs the boy’s back while maneuvering the shirt back over his head. Like earlier, he doesn’t even think as he lifts the boy up and begins to carry him up the stairs and settle him into his room where Bruce had been working on some homework assignments. The older boy looks towards the two in curiosity before giving Phil a questioning look.

“He’ll open up to everyone soon enough, but for now just...just be understanding with him,” Phil sighs as he tucks the boy into his bed and gives Bruce his one hour notice.


	7. Chapter 7

It’s not rare for Bucky to be sent to bed early.

In fact, among everyone in the house, he’s the one most commonly sent to bed first for misbehaving. It was Phil’s go to punishment for the boy because he knows how much it irritates him. Granted, he isn’t getting better at behaving so maybe he should change up his tactics, but tonight just didn’t feel like the night to experiment with that.

He’s never  _ actually _ gone to bed when Phil tells him to go to bed. He just goes up to his room and lays in bed until Steve and Thor come up for the night. When he gets sent up real early like he did tonight, Tony normally comes to keep him company, but the boy hadn’t done that today. So now he’s been sitting on his bed for the past hour with no form of entertainment before  _ finally _ the door creaked open to show not only Steve and Thor but also Tony.

“I’m not covering for you if Phil comes in for room checks and lights out, and sees you’re here,” Bucky says as he sits up on the bed.

Tony rolls his eyes as he situates himself on the older boy’s bed and looks at him expectantly.

“What?” Bucky scoffs as he notices Tony’s expression.

“I’ve never seen you get sent up for early lights out so fast after you got water,” Tony explains to which Bucky once again scoffs.

“He’s right, Buck. You walked out of the kitchen like you had seen a ghost. And, like, sure it was a bit strange to see Phil carrying Clint, but like not weird enough to get you to show that face,” Steve adds in as he starts to change into pajamas.

Bucky sighs as he falls back onto his mattress, eyes closed while running a hand across his face. The vision of those bruises covering every inch of the boy’s body was burned into his mind. He’s not stupid– contrary to what many people think. He knows why people are in this house. He knows the  _ real _ why.

Not the why that’s on paper that says they don’t play nice with others. Or that they don’t take to directions easily. He knows the why of every house member that got them to be like that in the first place. He knows about people’s original home lives and being brought into the system. And then from there he’s learned how one by one the system broke them down to their rawest points and led them to no longer being accepted into foster homes or even for adoption.

He  _ knows. _

And it’s because he knows, he figured that Clint’s case was not an easy one. What  _ 12 year old  _ is so broken that they’re already deemed unmanageable? What can a 12 year old have been through that makes him not eligible for fostering or adoption?

He knew that Clint had been on the streets for two years, so that alone was definitely a big factor in breaking him down. But those bruises.  _ Those scars _ . Those were the evidence of the real reason he was here. The real reason he even ended up on the streets. And Bucky can’t unsee that because Clint’s a kid.  _ He’s a kid _ . Everyone in the house has had it rough, but even without the whole story Bucky can tell Clint’s had it the hardest.

“He’s a little kid,” Bucky states. All three look at him to continue which he does after a sigh. “He’s a little kid, but I think he’s more broken than every single member of this house.”

“What’dya see, Buck?” Steve presses lightly.

“Phil was- was- kid had his shirt off, and, just, the bruises. The scars. There- there wasn’t one inch of his body that wasn’t covered in some type of bruise or scar. And-and it wasn’t like some little scratches or cuts here and there, th-they were like full on whipping marks. Brandings.”

“No child should experience pain like that,” Thor finally speaks up. “Was the bruising fading?”

“Most, but he had what looked like a new bruise on his bicep. Like a hand mark.”

“Someone hit him? Here?! No, no Phil wouldn’t let that happen,” Tony jumps in defense, but everyone could see the fear on his face.

“Whatever happened, I’m sure Phil is handling it, Tony. No one here would hurt us, don’t worry,” Steve says calmly, though, you could see the news threw him off also.

“I don’t know when it happened or who did it but I know what a fresh bruise looks like, and that one looked rough.”

Before any of the boys can make another comment, the tell tale sound of Phil’s shoes in the hallway could be heard approaching their door. Tony is quick to throw himself from Bucky’s bed and roll under it just in time to be out of Phil’s view when he opens the door.

“Bucky, didn’t I say early lights out?” the man asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Lights were off, sir. Cap and Pointe Break turned ‘em on when they came into the room. I was  _ rudely _ awakened,” Bucky says, smirking when he feels Tony kick up against the mattress upon stealing his nicknames for his roommates.

“Yeah I’m sure that’s the case,” Phil murmurs. “Alright, well, you two are back in school tomorrow. Let’s please make this the last suspension for a while. And Thor, you have football practice tomorrow?”

“Yes, I’ll be home by 6:00 PM, my friend Heim will drive me home if that’s still alright?” Thor confirms.

“Yeah that’s all good,” Phil smiles. “Alright, well, lights off in 10 minutes. Tony, please go back to your room. You can help Clint with laundry for the rest of the week as well.”

Tony has a look of both shock and annoyance as he crawls out from the bed, but Phil doesn’t say anything and rather just points towards the boy’s room.

“Goodnight, boys.”

* * *

Clint’s quiet the next day. And not his typical quiet where he’s just observing what’s going on around him and silently waiting for the chaos to end during the morning rush. No he’s eerily quiet in a way that makes him seem like he’s uncomfortable. Like he’s scared that someone’s about to do something to him. Phil doesn’t have a chance to pull him aside to talk to him, though, because Sam got to the house early today, and Clint all but jumped when he saw the man and immediately left to go sit in the family room to start their lessons for the day. 

“Clint, it’s not class time yet, I just wanted to sneak in early to get some coffee and breakfast since I haven’t gone grocery shopping yet,” Sam explains when he sees the boy making his way to what has become his classroom.

“It’s okay, I’ll just wait there for you,” Clint says as he continues his trek to the family room.

Sam raises a brow at the boy because although he hasn’t complained about his lessons, he hasn’t been adamant on starting them when Sam wants them to start. He grabs a coffee mug as he looks towards Phil who is now passing out everyone’s lunch bags.

“Come on guys, everyone to the bus stop! I’ll see you later this afternoon, be good in school and remember we’re doing room inspections this after dinner, so make sure you finish cleaning up your rooms when you get home if you haven’t done so!” Phil states as one by one each member of the house leaves aside from Clint. Once everyone is out the door Phil looks back at Sam’s expectant look and goes back to join him in the kitchen. “Clint had a rough weekend. Or well, really it was just a rough day, but it was a  _ really  _ rough day.”

“Want to do a session with him instead of classes for a bit? He’s been doing great at understanding everything, so we’re actually ahead of my initial schedule for him,” Sam offers while pouring himself and Phil a cup of coffee.

“No, no I think he wants to do class. Wants the distraction, you know? I think he feels he had one too many teary moments with me yesterday.”

“And what would that bring the total of teary moments up to? One?” Sam chuckles a bit because he knows no kid in a group home likes to cry. They think it marks a weakness of theirs.

“Four actually. In one day. Technically I was only present for three of those moments, but I was the reason for the tears where I wasn’t present.”

“Phil! What did you do to the kid?!”

“I’ll tell you all about it later when we discuss a new component I want you to add to his class time curriculum. For now, I think he just wants the distraction of being with someone that didn’t see him have a panic attack or need to be carried through the house, alright?”

Sam sighs at the lack of information, but he knows at the moment it’s not what’s important. Quickly, he fills a plate with some food, refills his coffee, and makes his way into the family room where Clint is waiting for him at the desk they had claimed as his own for the foreseeable future. 

“Alright, C-Man, where do we want to start today? Math or English?” Sam speaks as he rubs his hands together while gesturing to the two homework assignments Clint already has out.

“Don’t call me that, and what do you think? I hate English,” Clint mumbles going to reach for the math homework only for Sam to reach over for the English one.

“Then English it is! It’s better to get the subjects you don’t like out of the way, and plus I have your attention better earlier in the day rather than later.”

Clint groans but doesn’t say anything other than that before Sam begins to have him read the exercise blurb.

* * *

During what usually is Clint’s lunch break, he and Phil went to the boy’s doctor to check out his new hearing aids. The boy– or really rather Phil– expressed his concerns about still having issues picking up multiple sounds at once and the aids being just a bit too loud for him. The doctor had Clint put the new hearing aids in and began to do a series of tests until they found an appropriate sound level to keep it at while also making sure the boy was comfortable hearing multiple sounds at a time. They even tested how it works with electronic devices such as TV’s, and even the boy couldn’t stop his smile when he realized there no longer was a loud screeching sound.

“Aren’t you glad we got this all figured out? Now you won’t have to give yourself whiplash during every group meal,” Phil jokes while nudging the boy gently.

“Yeah, thanks for getting ‘em for me,” Clint mumbles, though Phil can see the grateful smile.

“Of course. Being able to hear isn’t a luxury, bud, it’s a necessity. Now, don’t hate me for this but since we’re already here Dr. Cho actually would like to see you for a quick follow up. Would you mind?”

Clint sighs– and almost whines– before nodding his head.

So the two make their way to the PCP sector of the hospital. Once they check in they don’t need to wait long before Dr. Cho herself is coming out to greet the two and leading them into a similarly designed room to the last one they had been in. The three do the basic formalities of checking in with Phil answering for Clint more than anything before Dr. Cho is clearing her throat.

“So, Clint, as I’m sure you recall the last time you were here we did a physical exam and I marked down where you had excessive bruising, scars, and so forth. Yes?” Dr. Cho states while looking at the small boy who sat up on the examination table.

“Yeah I remember,” Clint mumbles because he knows Phil won’t answer for him anymore.

“Well, I talked to one of my colleagues about some of your scarring, more specifically some of the branding, and they agreed to take a look at it to see if there’s anything that can be done to help eliminate some of the immediate noticeability. Is that something you’d be interested in?”

Clint looks taken aback by the offer, however, that look soon turns into curiosity as he glances towards Phil.

“I-is that something I’m allowed to do?”

“If it’s something you’re interested in of course, buddy. I actually asked Dr. Cho if she could look into that for me,” Phil answers back easily.

Without replying back to the man Clint turns back to the woman in front of him while he nods his head.

“Alright, well, then I’m going to give you a moment to get undressed, and when I come back in I’ll have Dr. Kravits with me.”

As Dr. Cho leaves Clint hesitantly looks at Phil to see what the man is going to do– stay or leave– however, just as he goes to stand Clint decides he’s chosen what Phil’s going to do.

“No stay!” Clint all but shouts.

Phil smiles at the boy before approaching him to help the boy slowly remove his shirt, shoes, and socks before allowing the boy to remove his joggers on his own. Phil is still standing beside the boy rubbing a hand up and down his back when Dr. Cho knocks on the door again and allows herself as well as Dr. Kravits into the room.

“Hi Clint, Phil, my name’s Dr. Kravits. I’m a plastic surgeon with a specialty in burns. I hear you’ve got quite a couple burns that Dr. Cho would like me to examine,” Dr. Kravits says as he pulls up the chair that Dr. Cho had been sitting in earlier, raising it up, so he can look at Clint more face to face.

The same nerves the boy had presented during his examinations last week are back as he looks hesitantly between the two doctors and his caretaker before shyly nodding his head.

“No need to be nervous, Clint, I’ll stop whenever you tell me to. But for now how about we start with you laying on your back while I look at these scars on your chest and belly,” Dr. Anderson says as he stands up and gently helps the boy lay back.

Phil has to hold onto Clint’s hand the entire time Dr. Anderson pokes around at the scars to feel the tissue build up as well as see how the nerve endings have healed amongst each other. Phil noticed the hand grip would tighten each time he was asked how he got a scar. And with each reply Phil found himself tightening his grip right back.

_ Iron. _

_ Hot pan. _

_ Whip. _

_ Hot pole. _

_ Cigar. _

_ Cauterizer.  _

Normally Phil is able to keep himself composed when his wards discuss their past experiences with abuse, however, normally his wards have case files. Normally there is already speculation of all the abuse already in the file. But Clint’s case isn’t normal. It’s anything  _ but  _ normal, actually. His case file has a birth certificate, hospital discharge papers, medical files on his hearing loss, and then seven papers for the foster homes he had at one point been in, and a missing persons poster.

He didn’t have hospital records. Or a breakdown of what happened in each home because no one took the chance to investigate the homes for abuse. His file was practically bare bones for all the trauma everyone knows he’s been through.

“Kiddo, you’ve been really great through all of this. Thank you for answering all my questions. It’s made this a lot easier for me actually. Before I give my thoughts, though, are there any scars that I’ve missed? On your legs or other parts of your body?” Dr. Kravits presses.

Phil knows what the man is getting at. Clint had absolutely refused the week prior to allow Dr. Cho to include his private areas in the examination, which only made them want to make sure the boy was alright even more. Some of the scars caused by a whip led deeper down the boy’s back and onto his butt, however, they can’t tell how severe the damage is without getting the boy’s permission. The deep bruising of hand marks gripping his inner thighs is the real reason the doctor wanted to do a thorough exam, however, they didn’t have his trust then. 

Hopefully today they have that trust a little bit more.

“Do- do you really think- um, do you really think you’d be able t-to remove some of the bu-burns?” Clint mumbles while playing with the waistband of his boxers.

“I do. It won’t be an easy process but some of these I think I can fully make disappear. And even the ones I’m not sure I can make totally gone, I have more colleagues who specialize in my same field with even more experience. I can get them to help me help you,” Dr. Kravits says with a soft smile to the boy.

The flusteredness of the boy’s face was extremely evident at the idea of needing to be completely naked in a room of basically strangers. However, it seems that the boy’s want for whatever he has on him gone is greater than his embarrassment as he mumbles if everyone can turn around for a second.

No one hesitates at the turn away from the boy. They hear the boy shuffle around on the table, something dropping to the floor, before a bit more shuffling before finally they’re able to turn around. Luckily everyone had seemed to make sure to prepare themselves because by the looks of it everyone was holding in a gasps.

The scarring on the boy’s bottom half was intense. Much deeper than those on his back, clearly noting that this is where the whipping had been mainly aiming for. Dr. Kravtis takes the situation in stride as he begins to assess the new markings while Dr. Cho updates her physical exam notes. 

Phil can’t help but stare at the deep bruising and hand prints that seemed to have held down the boy’s hips. He sees red as he thinks about who could do this to a little boy, but also wonders how has the boy been comfortable sitting on the floor when his bottom half looked like that. He made a mental note to require the boy to sit on a cushion for the foreseeable future.

“You know what, this is easy to fix. Couple of skin grafts and you’d be all set. I really appreciate you trusting me enough to show us this. It was really brave and-”

“I-I-I have more on m-m-my front,” Clint cuts the man off as he presses his face into his arms.

Phil didn’t think the room could become more silent, but at that statement it did.

“Are you comfortable showing us, Clint? If you want Dr. Cho and Phil can wait outside.”

“Phil can’t leave!” Clint all but shouts, face out of his arms now clearly displaying the tears that had begun to fall from his eyes.

“I’m not leaving you, honey, don’t worry. I’ll be right here the whole time, I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you,” Phil coos as he wipes the fallen tears away with his thumb.

Dr. Cho quietly leaves the room so now it’s just the three of them remaining. Phil continues to coo at the boy for a bit, before finally he takes a shuttery breath as he turns over to be laying on his back. The boy is quick to shoot his hands down to cover himself up, however, the intended marking the adults are assuming he wanted to show was still clearly visible.

At the top of his pelvis in large, uneven letters the word  _ “TRICKSHOT’S”  _ was written out in something symblant to a stick-n-poke tattoo. Below the wording but before reaching his private extremity, what appears to be a bullseye was branded into the boy.

Phil has always prided himself in keeping his composure, however, he’s so close to just punching the wall behind him. He wants to tear the office apart and hunt down whoever did this to Clint. This is beyond him being a little kid. This is just an inhumane act that you wouldn’t expect to be done to anyone. But the fact that it was done to a little kid makes it all that worse.

When Phil finally comes back to reality, he realizes he’s shushing the still crying boy as he runs a hand through his shaggy hair. Dr. Kravits is examining him while mumbling his own reassurances, writing notes somewhere in between.

“Clint, I think you’re the bravest person I’ve ever met,” Dr. Kravits states as he lightly drapes a blanket across the boy’s hips. “Not everyone would be able to be honest with a doctor with something like this, especially not a doctor they’ve just met, so I can’t thank you enough for putting that trust in me. I’m gonna be able to help you out, alright? That tattoo? Consider it completely gone. The whip marks? Invisible. Some of the burns are gonna be a bit tricky, but I guarantee they’ll be a lot less severe than they are now.”

“How- how much s’it gonna cost?” The boy hiccups out.

“You don’t need to worry about that, sweetie,” Phil answers for the doctor.

“S-sta-state doesn’t pay for- for nonessential s-surgeries. N-not infected or n-nothing.”

“Clint, if the state doesn’t cover this I’ll do it anyways, alright? You’re my new favorite superhero, gotta make sure you’re as strong as possible,” the doctor says with a smile. “Now I do need to ask you one more thing, and it may make you a bit uncomfortable.”

Clint wipes a hand across his eyes and adjusts the blanket around his lower half as he sits up on the bed while nodding his head.

“We need to take some photos of your scars and burns to evaluate the best course of treatment. I promise no one but the doctors intending to help with your case will see these images, and as doctors we’re under strict legal rules that could throw us in jail if we do not maintain your privacy. Do you think you can trust me for five more minutes?”

And again the boy nods as his grip once again tightens on Phil’s hand.

* * *

Clint’s curled up on the couch in the living room with Sam sitting beside him trying to coax him into eating something when the other members of the house begin to arrive home from school. Natasha and Pepper are first to enter because they always are. Sam knows he can’t ask them to not be in the living room when it’s one of the main areas to do things in the house, but he really hopes everyone can choose to respect the situation and give Clint space.

Natasha opens her mouth for half a moment like she was about to ask something, but it closes a second later before she and Pepper walk into the kitchen– eyes casting back to the scene on and off. Tony and Bruce are next into the house, and they react in a similar way to the girls, however, the only reason Tony doesn’t get to say a comment is because Bruce drags him away from the scene and up to their room. Bucky is last to enter the home– since Thor and Steve have practices– and he all but freezes when he catches sight of the boy. However, he’s also gone after a moment of hesitation.

Sam’s thankful everyone chose to respect the moment, however, he is surprised. A moment later he hears the sound of the blender running, Clint’s figure flinching if only momentarily, before Bucky is reemerging with a smoothie in hand along with a straw.

“Requires less effort. No chewing required,” Bucky says as he hands it over before he makes his way in the direction of Phil’s office.

“Phil’s in a meeting, should be done soon if you wanna wait out here,” Sam offers, to which the boy doesn’t reply and rather just situates himself on the couch.

Sam quirks an eye at the boy because he’s expecting a comment to be made, however, the boy just turns the TV on instead. Sam chuckles to himself as he attempts the smoothie idea and is pleasantly surprised when Clint willingly drinks the beverage when the straw is in reach.

“Dissociation episodes can really take it out of you. Eating becomes hard when you’re trying to come back to reality,” Bucky offers after a while.

Sam nods his head but doesn’t offer anything back. 

He’s known Bucky since he moved into the home when he was 15. In the two years he’s been here Sam has gotten to know about the boy’s backstory a bit, so he knows that Bucky is familiar with dissociation. Granted, they aren’t sure if Clint is having one of those episodes, however, hearing that Bucky thinks that’s the case does bring some confirmation to it all.

“How long s’ he been like this?”

“Three hours or so,” Sam decides to answer this time as he runs a hand through the boy’s hair.

“He needs something to ground him. Something familiar to him.”

“Yes I know, that’s what I’m trying.”

Bucky scoffs.

“Hate to break it to you Sam, but you’re not familiar. Sure he’s gotten comfortable with you, but I hope you know he accounts for every move you’re gonna make. He analyzes you so he can expect everything you do next. He may have a little bit of trust in you, but you’re far from a familiarity in his life.”

Sam looks at the boy with an unimpressed glare, however, it’s quick to soften when he realizes the boy is right. He’s known Clint for a week. He’s not familiar to him. He doesn’t offer him anything that can help bring him back down to reality.

Bucky smirks as he realizes he proved Sam wrong before getting up from the sofa and making his way upstairs. He doesn’t bother knocking on Bruce and Tony’s door because they never knock on his, however, he skips out on the usual formalities and goes right to Clint’s side of the room.

“Uh, Bucky, Phil’s gonna rip you a new one if he catches you ransacking through Clint’s shit,” Tony says as he turns away from the equation he and Bruce are trying to work on.

“He’s having an episode and needs something that’ll help keep him grounded. I gotta find something of his that’ll be familiar to him,” Bucky explains as he continues to look through the boy’s items.

“He has a stuffed animal, I think it’s a dog or something,” Bruce offers as he stands from the desk and goes over to help Bucky look for it. He reaches a hand into the boy’s pillow case as he pulls out the stuffed toy. “Not the most original hiding spot, but I guess he’s still scoping out the house.”

“Huh, Puppy’s gotta puppy,” Bucky chuckles before being met by a stiff elbow to the stomach.

“Bucky don’t, I thought you were trying to help,” Bruce says, a look of annoyance clear across his face.

“Relax, Brucie, I am gonna help. I’m sure Tony filled you in on what I saw yesterday, and I don’t intend on adding any more shit that the kid’s gotta deal with. Doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to tease ‘im an’ shit.”

And with that Bucky makes his way back down the stairs and is quick to place the stuffed animal into Clint’s hands. Almost immediately the boy begins to rub the ear of the dog between his fingers before slowly clutching the item to his chest. It takes a couple more minutes, but soon enough the boy seems to be blinking himself back into reality as his eyes furrow and he looks around in confusion.

Sam continues to run a hand through the boy’s hair which seems to calm him down for the most part, but just as he looks like he’s going to speak up Phil, Maria, and Nick Fury come directly into his vision.


	8. Chapter 8

Clint is once again seated in Phil’s office. He hasn’t decided if he hates being in the office or not yet, but what he is sure of is that he never wants to be alone with Maria, Nick, and Phil all together  _ ever  _ again.

“Clint, I know these things are extremely difficult and scary to discuss and I know you may even feel embarrassed by it all, but this isn’t anything you have to be embarrassed about. It’s up to you when and who you choose to discuss these events with, but we just want you to know all of us are always available to sit down with you,” Maria relays once again to the boy.

“It- it all happened a while ago, I’m fine,” Clint mumbles, sounding more like a broken record repeating the same sentence over and over again to the adults with each question they ask him.

“Honey, the bruises you had? Those weren’t fading. Those were still plenty visible, and by the looks of it painful. We know this couldn’t have been too long ago, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of. It wasn’t your fault,” Phil adds this time.

“Didn’t think it was my fault,” Clint says, this time with a glare though. “ ‘sides nothing happened.”

“Clint, can you please look me in the eye?” Nick states this time, the pure exhaustion not even attempting to mask itself. Clint remains stubborn for a couple moments before rolling his eyes as he looks up towards the bald man. “I talked to the local precinct today and my supervisor, and we’ve decided you’d be able to see your brother later this week-”

“Wait, really?!” Clint nearly shouts as he jumps up from his chair, eyes wide and small traces of smiling attempting to make his way onto his face.

“Yes, really, however, I now have some of my own concerns and I don’t know if I want that happening.”

“What?! No, you can’t tell me yes and then tell me no! That’s not fucking fair!”

“Clint, sit down, take a breath, and we’ll discuss this,” Phil jumps in because he could see the agitation coursing through the boy’s body but specifically his now fisted up hands. Clint glares at the man but regardless sits down. “Thank you, now Nick if you will.”

“As I was saying, I have some of my own concerns, but I think you could probably clear them up. I’m not gonna make you tell us everything that happened the two years you weren’t with the system, but I do need you to clear one thing up for me. Sound fair?”

Clint glares at the ground, legs kicking out at Phil’s desk before he sighs and nods his head.

“Is Trickshot your brother?” Nick ask.

“What?! No! No of course he’s not, Barnie would- he’d never! No he’d never! He looked out for me, he- he- he helped me!”

“Honey, we’re not trying to accuse your brother of anything,” Phil says, this time approaching the boy and gently holding onto his hands because he can’t be sure he won’t try to hit Nick. “You have to look at this through our point of view, okay? For two years, you disappeared. From one day to the next CPS didn’t know where you were or what you were doing; all they could tell was that you left  _ with  _ your brother. And now two years later, you were only found because your brother was found which gives us reason to believe you were with him throughout these two years. But that’s all we know. All we  _ know _ is that for two years you and your brother were on your own.”

Clint’s glare slowly falls from his face and is replaced by a look that mixes understanding, fear, and something Phil doesn’t know how to label.

“Weren’t alone,” Clint mumbles as his fist begins to relax in Phil’s grip, his thumb vaguely running across Phil’s hand.

“Were you with people older than you boys?” Nick asks, now also crouched down in a position similar to Phil. Clint doesn’t speak, just nods his head. “Did they help you get out of Iowa?”

“Met ‘em in Ohio.”

“And were one of these  _ them _ Trickshot?”

Clint sighs but nods his head.

“C-can I go? M’tired,” Clint mumbles, Phil and Maria both silently cooing at the boy because they can see the exhaustion on his face but also so much more.

“Can you tell us anything else about Trickshot? What he did was wrong and evil, and you deserve for him to not be able to do this to anyone ever again,” Maria asks but she’s met by pleading eyes.   
“Wanna talk to Barnie,” Clint replies, voice louder than it had been in a while which allowed the three adults to realize this conversation was in fact over. 

“Alright, honey, we’re done here. Based on your class schedule with Sam I think Wednesday might be the best day to visit? I’m letting you know now, though, that this will be monitored. It’s not cause we don’t trust you, it’s more a police station requirement than anything, alright?”

Clint once again nods his head before rushing out of the room, so as to not risk getting dragged in for more questions. Once the boy was out of the room and the door was shut, the three adults look at each other and can’t help but sigh because even though they’re glad to have  _ some _ information on the boy’s past, it’s not nearly enough to scratch the surface.

“Do you think him talking to his brother will make him feel comfortable enough to talk to us? Should we maybe see if we can ask him about his time on the streets while he’s with his brother?” Maria ask the two men who are rubbing their faces in exhaustion while contemplating the events of the past day.

“I definitely think talking to him while he’s with his brother is a smart move. I have a meeting with the DA later today about potentially making a deal with Barnie if he helps us locate Trickshot and the rest of that crew. I don’t know why but I just have a feeling the crowd they were running with were a bit more dangerous than your run of the muck townies hopping in and out of cities. If we come up with anything I may be having a separate, private meeting with Barnie tomorrow,” Nick explains.

“God I’ve never wanted to hurt someone so bad before. Clint’s face when he showed us, he- he was so  _ ashamed _ . As if  _ he’s  _ the one that did something wrong,” Phil sighs. “God this kid has gone through the ringer these past 24 hours.”

“Everything okay after I left yesterday?” Nick ask confused.

“No definitely not. Some mayhem broke out when we couldn’t find him for a bit, but he was just on the porch. His hearing aids still weren’t working the best so he couldn’t hear us yelling for him. Then we learned that his hygiene habits aren’t the best because he’s terrified to shower every night when he can’t hear who’s in the room with him and what they’re doing, so he tries to get in and out before he’s taken by surprise.”

“How do you plan to address the showering situation?”

“During group I was gonna see if people wouldn’t mind if Clint were allowed to use the private shower until he’s comfortable, or if not then we might move his shower time to being when the rest of the kids are in school. Don’t know how great that solution would be though because he’s gonna have to go to school eventually.”

“Well, good luck with that discussion, I’m gonna go before I’m dragged into it. Keep me posted.”

Phil and Maria wave the man off as they then work on a brainstorm of ideas on how to approach the shower situation with the rest of the house without embarrassing Clint, as well as figuring out other things they may need to adapt for the boy that he hasn’t spoken out on yet.

* * *

An hour after everything Phil finds Clint laid out on his bed doing what appears to be readings, except the book he has laid out definitely is not one of the ones Sam gave him. It’s too big and textbook like which immediately allows Phil to know it’s probably one of Bruce’s.

“Knock, knock,” Phil says as he enters into the doorframe of the room. “Mind if I come in?”

Clint shakes his head as he repositions himself so he’s sitting up instead of laying down. Phil enters with a smile, but at the same time can’t help but wonder was the position change out of respect or was it more of an internalized fear.

“Did Sam update your reading criteria? That’s a big book you’ve got there,” Phil says with a chuckle as he pulls the boy’s desk chair out to sit on it.

“M’books for reading homework were in the family room, but the door was closed so I couldn’t get ‘em. Sam says I just gotta read something other than my textbooks for an hour a day and Bruce mentioned I could look through his books.”

“And how are you liking Bruce’s books?”

“Not really sure I’m readin’ ‘em right. Don’t really get what they’re sayin’.”

“If we’re being honest here? I don’t really know what half of Bruce’s books say. Feel free to keep going through his books, but you can also look through the bookshelf in the garage.”

“Didn’t know there was a bookshelf there.”

“Have you gone into the garage yet?” Instead of speaking, Clint just shakes his head. “Hmm, maybe we can check it out tomorrow. You and Sam can go through the books and maybe set up a reading checklist. He used to do that with Bucky and when he finished five books he’d get a prize.”

“Like leaving the house?”

“Yeah maybe, since it would be with Sam you’d have to work out the rewards with him but I think an ice cream trip could be a reasonable excursion. Maybe going to the local library to pick out a book on your own?”

“More reading doesn’t sound like a reward,” Clint says with a pout as he closes the textbook in front of him.

“Maybe not right now, but I bet you’re gonna grow to love reading. You just seem the type,” Phil chuckles. “Now we’re having group in a couple minutes, you ready to come downstairs?”

At that question Clint becomes noticeably more nervous as he looks away from Phil’s eyes.

“You alright, Clint?” Phil asks with a frown.

“Don’t really wanna do group today,” Clint mumbles as he begins to play with a loose string on his comforter.

“I know today and the past 24 hours have been very emotional times and you might not want to talk about everything, but I think going to group will be really good for you. You don’t have to talk about it, but I think it’d be good for you to just sit in at the very least.”

Clint groans in annoyance as he falls back against his pillows, but eventually he gets up from the bed and begins to make his way downstairs and into the family room where most of the house was already settled in. Clint was going to take his typical seat on the ground, however, before he could, Tony extends one of the bean bag chairs he had been hoarding the past week out to the boy.

“So I attempted your sitting on the floor thing and it felt awful, take the bean bag before I change my mind,” Tony says when the boy doesn’t make moves for it.

Clint continues to look at him questionably, but regardless he grabs the seat to situate himself– internally smiling because sitting on the ground had been silently killing him.

Eventually the rest of the house members settle themselves in and Phil is beginning the meeting. Everyone goes around to say their highs and lows– Clint even deciding to share his again even if they were as simple as  _ I got new hearing aids, but it meant I had to go to the doctor _ – before Phil begins to ask some questions about the day’s topic.

“Alright, so we’re a little over a month into the school year and– like years past– I’ve begun to notice we’re hitting that period where I begin to receive more notices from the school about some of us acting out or needing to be dismissed from class for causing disturbances. This is no ones fault, I think we just need to discuss some of our triggers and strategies we can implement in order to overcome them so that we  _ don’t _ do anything that may get us into trouble,” Phil explains. “Now does anyone want to share something that triggers them into acting out in anger whether verbally, physically, or even towards themselves?”

Clint is surprised to hear Tony volunteer himself first followed by Natasha and Steve, but then he thinks back to last week and realizes two of the three were sent home for disrupting class or becoming violent at school. But still, Tony surprises him because– while they may not be close– as roommates Clint’s never gotten the vibe that Tony is aggressive.

“So, T, when people question or doubt you what’s your first instinct? How do you find yourself reacting the most?” Phil asks.

“Call them an idiot in words that they won’t understand so that I can show just how clearly stupid they are before attacking them at their lowest points. Like really hit them where it hurts,” Tony replies without even a blink of the eye. “I’m not big so verbal assaults are my powerhouse, short stuff.”

Clint finds himself scrunching his face up at the  _ short stuff _ comment because was Tony calling Phil short? It wasn’t until he looked towards his roommate that the boy had been directing it towards him which causes him to scowl at the boy.

“Tony, uncalled for. Clint, deep breath,” Maria mediates as she takes one of Tony’s bean bags and settles in between the two boys.

“And what do these verbal assaults provide for you?” Phil continues after nodding his thanks towards Maria.

“They’re definitely a boost in confidence.”

“Okay and how do they typically end up affecting you?”

At this Tony becomes a little less cocky with his demeanor as he shrugs his shoulders before sighing.

“Well I guess recently I’ve been louder with my comments or had them directed at teachers, so I’m made to finish classes in the office which isn’t great.”

The conversation goes back and forth for a while, eventually switching to Natasha and Steve. Phil and Maria then begin to give suggestions for how to realize they’re falling into old habits and then take a new approach as to how they want to take on the incident.

As the meeting begins to wrap up Phil opens up the circle for people to speak freely. Typically this becomes a time when people petition what the weekly game night event will be or if they want to reserve the TV at a specific time. Occasionally– Clint’s noticed– people attempt to pose new house rules, however, that hasn’t been a super common entity which is why he’s more than shocked when Phil is the one to bring it up once everyone finishes adding their two cents.

“Alright, so guys I actually have a new house rule proposal I would like to discuss with you,” Phil says, which has people bringing their attention back to him with questioning looks. “I’m bringing this up because this is a proposal that doesn’t really affect everyone, however, it falls under the category of automatic implementation for how people interact with individual house members.”

Clint looks at Phil in horror as he realizes that  _ he _ is the individual house member that wants a new rule added. He doesn’t understand what Phil is doing because they never discussed this. Sure he told him he’s scared of the showers but he never thought the man would have to bring it up to the whole house. Quickly he begins to shake his head at the man, however, he can’t grasp the man’s attention because Pepper is speaking up.

“Then why do we need to discuss it? Shouldn’t it just kinda be enacted?” Pepper asks in confusion.

“Well, it’s slightly more complicated,” Phil explains, finally looking at Clint where he realizes the boy is  _ not _ enjoying this one bit. “I’m just going to go right out and explain. Clint, buddy, I know we didn’t discuss this but I told you it was something I was going to handle and I think this is the best way to do it. 

“Would everyone be alright if Clint– even though this is typically a reward and he doesn’t have the points for it– uses the private bathroom as a more permanent option for showering purposes? His hearing aids are not waterproof which means he needs to take them out to shower, and he hasn’t felt safe or comfortable when doing so since moving in because he’s not sure when or if someone enters the room or attempts to speak to him.”

The  _ or if someone tries to sneak up on him from behind to hurt him _ is silent but based on the faces in the room Phil can tell everyone got the message.

“I-I didn’t ask to use the private bathroom, I-I-I don’t deserve it. It’s okay I- I’ll suck it up,” Clint rushes out frantically.

“Clint, you’re missing the point, buddy, this isn’t something you have to suck up. It’s a reasonable fear and we don’t want you to not feel safe here. This is your home as of now,” Phil explains to the boy.

“N-no I can, uh, I can just-”

Before he can finish his sentence he’s cut off.

“I don’t care if he gets to use the private bathroom. Granted, I’m nowhere near and never have been near enough points to get to use the private bathroom,” Bucky says first while giving the boy the most subtle smile he could conjure up.

“Yeah I’m with Bucky, I don’t mind,” Steve adds.

“It does not bother me in the slightest,” Thor conquers.

“Ditto,” Tony and Bruce say simultaneously.

“I mean if we’re being honest me and Natasha already have private bathrooms because she showers at night and I shower in the morning,” Pepper points out. “It’s really just a reward for the boys if you think about it.”

Phil looks to Natasha to see her nodding her head in agreement before he turns back to Clint.

“See, bud, no one minds. Looks like we solved our issues,” Phil says with a smile before asking for a final call on things to be addressed.

When everyone is set that they’re done for the day the room empties, and for once Clint may feel just a little bit happy about having gone to group for the day.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry for the delay in this chapter! I definitely haven't abandoned my work I've just working full time, dealing with COVID stuff, and like the election has had me ANXIOUS! I write when I have free time SOOO here's what comes about when you're staying up until 3 am watching the polls update!

Fury remembers the first time he ever saw the Barton brothers. As a social worker, he’s used to files just being left on his desk with all intents and purposes that he would be  _ their _ social worker. So when he walked into his New York office on a cool November morning with two files paperclipped together he automatically knew he’d gotten some new wards. He hung up his coat, placed down his briefcase, poured himself some coffee, and then made way to start reading through the two new files.

First thing he gathered was that they were brothers as well as they were not new to the system by any means. Next thing he noticed, though, was the fact that all their previous foster homes and group homes had been in Iowa, so to have been given their files up here in New York was definitely an odd one. And then finally he realized these two kids weren’t his new wards that needed placement, but rather they were current runaways of which when and if they were found would  _ then  _ become Nick’s wards.

Needing more answers than he knows he’ll be able to find in the files, Nick makes his way to his supervisor where he learns the boys had been spotted by some  _ Amtrak _ security trying to hop a train. Unfortunately, they were not able to detain them or keep track of where they went, so now all that DCFS knows is that these two runaway boys from Iowa are now runaway boys in New York.

“What measures do we have in place to find them?” Nick asks his supervisor.

“Precincts have missing photos of them, maybe they’ll send a couple squad cars out to check the homeless tent cities to see if they find them there,” the man replies.

“Sir, we should be broadcasting these kids’ faces on the news at least this week. They’re probably not set up anywhere yet, if we have any chances of finding them it’s right now while they’re probably prone to moving more frequently and still unfamiliar with the city.”

“Fury, you know how many missing kid reports we get in New York alone in a year?! Twenty thousand! And most of those are runaways just like these two kids. I’d love to be able to put mass amounts of funding in broadcasting all these kids so that they’re found, but it’s just not logistical. We barely have enough funds to give the kids who don’t run away from their group homes a decent upbringing, so forgive me if I’m not jumping to do everything possible to find these two.”

With that Nick was made to leave the man’s office.

Overall, he  _ understood _ where his supervisor was coming from. They take care of a  _ lot  _ of kids. It’s hard to prioritize whose needs come first when in reality all the kids should be given fair, caring upbringings. Unfortunately that doesn’t always happen. 

With a sigh, Nick made his way back to his desk to start reading through the rest of the file. Although the kids aren’t fully his wards yet, he can’t help but write their names down to the list that sits perched next to his computer screen. His little daily reminder of all the people he’s responsible for each and everyday even if he doesn’t see them each and every day.

_ Bernard Barton. _

_ Clinton Barton. _

_ Sixteen. _

_ Ten. _

It’s that ten that really makes Nick’s heart pull a bit. He doesn’t have kids himself, but he cannot imagine if he did having his 10 year old roaming the streets of New York alone. Let alone running away and then making his way from Iowa all the way to the City. Shaking his head from the thought Nick continues to read their files and slowly he’s able to piece these two boys together.

The files don’t have much, but when you read between the lines you essentially have a novel. Their initial home life doesn’t seem like a traditional, white-picket fence family if the medical evaluation done after the car crash that killed their parents is anything to go by. Alongside some scrapes from the crash Bernard required surgery to his arm and Clinton suffered from a serious head collision causing him to lose nearly all his hearing. However, the evaluation also noted bruises across each of the boys including what looked like handprints across Bernard’s arms, a fading black eye, and handprint bruises gripping Clinton’s neck. 

The mother was in even worse shape.

Then he started reading the foster home dismissal files. Seven foster homes in four years. That  _ alone _ was a red flag. Nick knows children can be difficult but never to this extent. At first he tried to spin the angle that the homes just weren’t equipped to deal with a deaf child, however, the comments at the end of the files of  _ tried to instill dominance on the house _ or  _ didn’t know how to play nice  _ even if they weren’t other kids in the house really gave Nick the full image.

So instead of dismissing these files, Nick took their photos out and pinned them to the board behind his desk with today’s date labeled. He knew in that moment he was going to do whatever he could to find these boys.

If you had told him then he’d find these boys two years later, he would have said your crazy, yet here he is. Sitting in the visitor’s section of the state penitentiary. Waiting to finally speak– let alone  _ meet–  _ Bernard, or what he’s been come to be referred to as, Barney Barton.

Nick knows which man is Barney the second he walks through the door. Not to say he hasn’t changed a bit since he looked like that 16 year old in the photo still in Nick’s office. No it’s simply because he’s a walking Clint. He’s Clint with an added foot and a half of height, some well defined muscles, and a bit shaggier of hair. But the face is all the same, all the way down to that initial smirk Nick vividly remembers Clint throwing at him the first night they met as well.

“Barton,” Nick waves him over when the man– if you can call an 18 year old a man– when he noticed he wasn’t sure who to be looking for.

He walks over with his hands in his pockets but the smirk stays set– reminding Nick even more of Clint.

“So you’re Fury,” Barney says as he settles into the seat in front of Nick.

“Nick Fury, yes. It’s nice to finally meet you, Barney,” Nick says while holding out a hand which in turn is given a firm– almost too firm– handshake.

“I see you’ve met my brother then,” Barney chuckles. “Kid’s only one left calling me that, most stick to Barton.”

“I’m his social worker, or, well, technically I’m both of your social workers but–”

“But I aged out, yeah I figured as much. How is he? He good? He safe?”

Nick is taken aback by the question. Not that he had labeled Barney a bad brother, but he just wasn’t sure what the kid’s intentions were with his brother. Or if he did in fact try and take care of Clint while out on the streets or if he just made sure he stayed alive enough.

“He’s safe, definitely safe. Don’t know if I’d say  _ good _ , but he’s adjusting and he’s getting better. He’s got a bed, gets all three meals a day, had a physical done, and got some new updated hearing aids.”

“He in a foster home?”

“Group home. Two years as a runaway, especially one from another state, it’s hard to convince the state to put him with a single family. Flight risk and all. But it is a good group home, and I think he’s happy there.”

“Clint happy? Sheesh, maybe I should have gotten arrested sooner. Could have saved myself the trouble of dealing with a temper tantrum or two.”

“Could have brought yourself into DCFS instead, also. Could have gotten both of you settled somewhere.”

“Not likely. Probably would have tried to keep me and Clint together which would lead to him being put into a boys’ home that’s closer to my age than his own. And then he’d get picked on for being younger, so I’d have to step in and make sure people don’t mess with him which would cause the current alpha of that house to start something with me which gets me kicked out and then Clint would make sure to do something that gets him kicked out too.”

“You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”

“I didn’t just drag a 10 year old out of a foster home for shits and giggles. I did it because I had to and it was the only viable option at the time. Since we’ve been out, if I thought there would have been a better solution for us– for  _ him–  _ I would have taken it in a heartbeat. But there wasn’t anything. Nothing concrete at least.”

“So you care about him. Everything you did...it was to keep him safe?”

“What’s your problem, man?! Of course it was to keep him safe! I was tired of seeing my ten year old, little brother getting the shit beat out of him! And it was clear no one else gave a fuck, so I decided to! Being on the streets with a little kid may not be the most conventional, but we made it work. I made sure to keep him as warm as possible when it was cold. He always ate before I did. I  _ tried _ to keep those hearing aids workable. I would do it all over again if it meant people finally kept their hands off of him.”

Nick stairs at the man in front of him with admiration. Clint’s words earlier of  _ he protected me _ rang through his head, and he couldn’t help but smile. But then he remembered what caused Clint to shout that out, and he couldn’t help but allow the grimace to reappear on his face.

“What? What’s that face? What happened to Clint?” Barney all but shouts as the once angry look turns to concern, if not fear.

“I promised Clint I would bring him here to visit you, but after a recent discovery we thought it’d be best if I saw you first to clarify some things,” Nick starts while looking the man in the eyes.

“He’s hurt? I thought you said he was safe? He was happy?” the anger slowly reappearing in his voice.

“We picked him up two weeks after you got brought in, and the day after he had a physical done. There were some concerning marks, but he refused to answer questions or allow a more thorough exam. Until yesterday. He had a follow up appointment and this time there was a plastic surgeon there to see if there was anything that could be done about some of the lacerations on his back. I don’t know what changed his mind, but Clint finally agreed to a more thorough exam which led to the exposure of a recent emblem being branded and inked onto his pelvis. He was adamant you had nothing to do with it, in fact that you couldn’t have even known, but I just had to make sure myself.”

Nick can see the anger clear as day spread across Barney’s face, however, for some reason he can tell it isn’t directed at him.

“What was branded onto him?” Barney says in an eerily quiet voice.

“It was a bullseye with the word–” Nick starts only to be cut off.

“Trickshot.”

“Yes. Trickshot was tattooed above the bullseye. Is- is that someone you know?”

“That sick mother fucker! I knew he was no good, I told Clint no matter what to never be around that guy when he wasn’t with me. God dammit!” Barney shouts as he slams his hands down on the table. Nick is quick to wave off the officer as he reaches a hand out to grab Barney’s hand.

“He’s safe now, though. The doctor’s are gonna do everything they can to get rid of the marks, and he’s safe in the home now. Neither of you have to worry about something like this happening again,” Nick promises. “How did you guys get in kahoots with this Trickshot guy anyways?”

“He- he, uh- we’d-” Barney stuttered over an answer.

“I promise whatever you tell me, stays with me.”

Barney gives him a questioning look before slowly nodding his head.

“We first met him and some of his goons in Ohio. He runs some odd jobs and he let me pitch in here and there, so I could get some money for me and Clint. He was a good guy at first, he got Clint his hearing aids for christ sake! And then he helped us get to New York. He told us it would be a better place for some runaway kids to post up, plus there were more opportunities for money. I noticed him getting a bit too touchy with Clint, so I started distancing ourselves from him because I couldn’t let something like that happen to Clint again.” As if something clicks in his head Barney’s head immediately snaps up to meet Nick’s eyes. “W-Was he– did h-h-he, um you know, is–”

“Barney it’s not your fault. It’s not your fault and it’s not Clint’s fault. This man took advantage of a situation,” Nick says, understanding what the boy was asking but not being able to put it into words.

“Are you gonna let Clint see me still?” Barney asks, head down and if you blink you would have missed the single, small sniffle to leave the boy.

“I was thinking of bringing him Wednesday. Or, well, it might be Phil, the owner of the group home, but I’d be here too. He’d probably kill me if I redacted my offer.”

“Kid’s got a set of lungs on him and he knows how to use ‘em, too. He might grant you with your first official Barton Breakdown if you take away your offer,” Barney laughs as he vaguely runs a hand over his eyes.

“Thanks for the heads up,” Nick says as he begins to stand, seeing as the officer was beginning to round everyone up. “You know, I’ve got some friends down at the DA. If you were willing to talk about some of these  _ opportunities  _ Trickshot set up, we might be able to work out a plea deal. If you’re interested.”

And then, the now infamous smirk reappeared on Barney’s face.

“And I thought I’d aged out of having a social worker.”


	10. Chapter 10

Clint was an angel all day Tuesday. 

He didn’t argue about waking up. He didn’t complain about being told to finish all of his vegetables at lunch or dinner. He finished his chores  _ and  _ homework early. And he even initiated conversation with members of the house during dinner and before group.

Now Phil would love to think this is all because Clint is beginning to feeling comfortable in the house and ready to open up, but he knows the real reason. He knows that the only reason Clint is acting like a golden child is because he wants to make sure he gets to see Barney on Wednesday. And he can’t blame the kid. Incentive can work wonders. Miracles even. But Phil does wish the boy would simply trust him when he says  _ so long as the DA approves, you’ll get to see him tomorrow _ .

“Alright, Clint, bed time. You’ve got 15 minutes and then it’s light out,” Phil says with just an ounce of regret because Clint was socializing.

_ Socializing _ .

Since dinner ended he’d decided to join Bruce and Thor in the puzzle they had been putting together. It started off with just some shy points to pieces he thought they could use, but by the end he was laughing along with the two as Thor tried to force each piece he found together. He knows the boy is doing it to get in his good graces, but honestly a step is still a step.

A slight blush spreads across the boy’s cheeks at the word  _ bedtime _ , but he doesn’t say anything. Just nods his head, whispers a quiet goodnight, and makes his way up the stairs.

“Don’t get why you give him such an early bedtime,” Tony mumbles from the couch where he is tinkering with something Phil assumes he found at school.

“He’s 12, Tony. It may only be a 3 year age difference, but when you’re kids 3 years is a lot and sleep is important. Hence, why you will also be having lights out in about 15 minutes. Don’t think I forgot about you sneaking into the other boys’ room the other night after light out,” Phil replies.

“Yeah, yeah I know. I already showered and everything,” Tony grumbles. “S’not like the kid sleeps anyways. Kid stays up about half the night.”

“What’d you say?” Phil asks with a raised brow just as Bucky jars an elbow into Tony’s stomach.

“Nothing, nothing. You’re hearing things, Agent.”

“Uh-huh, sure I am. Tony, Bruce, how about we go have a chat in the family room.”

Bruce and Tony both sigh, but they know there’s no way out of this. When Phil wants answers, he gets them. Sullenly, the boys walk into the family room and sigh as Phil closes the door.

“Boys, I need you to be honest with me. Has Clint been sleeping?” Phil asks.

The boys hesitate as they look amongst each other before Bruce looks up first.

“Maybe he sleeps some, but I don’t think a lot. When I go up for curfew I can tell he’s still awake because he’s just so, I don’t know, stiff? And then I normally read for 30 minutes before I go to sleep. Even then he’s still awake and probably hasn’t moved an inch. And occasionally when I wake up in the middle of the night I’ll notice he’s sitting up on his bed or on the window sill,” Bruce explains.

“Yeah I’ve seen the same. I just think he’s scared still, I’ve heard him sniffling a time or two in the middle of the night,” Tony adds in. “You can’t blame the kid for not sleeping though. I mean, he’s only been here for a little over a week. And, well, it hasn’t been the smoothest of transitions.”

“I’m not mad at him, Tony, you know me better than that. I’m just concerned. He has a weak immune system and it’s not going to get better any faster if he’s depriving himself of sleep. Thank you for letting me know boys. I’m not going to ask you boys to be spies for me because I know you won’t and it’s not far to ask, but I’d appreciate it if you’re noticing this doesn’t improve after I’ve talked to him over the next couple of days if you just give me a subtle hint?”

The boys look at each other before vaguely nodding their heads as they move to leave the room. Phil sighs as he follows after them, but rather than making his way up the stairs he settles back on the couch with the rest of the group. He knows he won’t be able to get anything out of Clint tonight.

One by one the kids are sent up for lights out before it’s just Phil, Maria, and the social worker taking the night shift left. The three talk amongst themselves for a bit, talking about how the kids are behaving and doing, but primarily talking about Clint. Eventually, Maria leaves for the night and Phil makes his way up the stairs as well. He peaks into each room to make sure the kids are settled, before stopping outside Tony, Bruce, and Clint’s room.

He presses his ear to the door to see if he can hear sniffling, however, he comes up empty. So ever so gently he pushes the door open, only to sigh upon seeing a shell shocked Clint perched upon the window sill. Clint’s mouth opens and closes as if he’s trying to figure out something to say but words are never able to form. Scared the boy will have a lung flare up, Phil immediately goes to calm him down.

“Shh, shh, it’s alright,” Phil whispers, careful not to disturb the other two sleeping boys in the room, as he takes a few steps forward. “You’re not in trouble, kiddo, I was just checking in on everyone tonight.”

Phil makes it in front of Clint and can’t help but gently grab a hold of the trembling hands.

“I-I was sleeping but- but then I woke up and-” Clint starts before he’s cut off.

“It’s okay, Clint, I’m not mad. I don’t need an excuse or anything. I know it’s hard to go to sleep, especially in a place that isn’t super familiar yet,” Phil coos while brushing some of the boy’s hair out of his eyes, reminding him that he needs to give the boy a haircut soon. “I know you’ve probably got a lot going on in your head right now, so if it’ll make you feel better you can come sleep in my room tonight. I have an extra bed set up there in case any of you guys ever need it.”

“M’not a baby,” Clint mumbles, eyes seeming to clear up from the fog that had initially taken over them.

“Being scared doesn’t make you a baby. You wouldn’t be the first that needs to sleep in my room for a night or two, and you definitely wouldn’t be the oldest to do so either.”

Phil can see the contemplation on Clint’s face before the boy shakes his head.    
“C’n sleep here, I’ll go to bed now, promise,” Clint mumbles as he shuffles towards his bed.

Phil sighs but follows the boy over to his bed. He lifts the cover for the boy before loosely tucking him in underneath. Just as Clint thinks he’s about to leave the room, though, he sees Phil reach under the bed and pull out the stuffed dog that he had just rehidden.

“No one’s gonna laugh at you for this, you know? I bet if you talked to some of the other kids they’d tell you that themselves, maybe even show you their hidden stuffed animals,” Phil says with a smile as he tucks it in next to the boy. “Try to sleep, honey, you’ve got a long day tomorrow.”

* * *

The angel Clint was still present that Wednesday morning, except this time much more distracted. He still woke up without complaint (but now Phil is wondering if he’s actually ever asleep when he goes to grab him). He ate all his food without complaint. He even started his lessons without complaints. However, you could see his mind was a million miles away. Sam would need to explain directions three or four times in a row before Clint finally put together what he was supposed to do, and even then he’d find himself distracted after just a few problems.

Finally, though, it hits 11:00 AM. Meaning it’s finally time to go see Barney. Clint hardly waits for Sam to dismiss him before he’s running out of the family room and into Phil’s office where the man had just stood up with car keys in hand.

“I’m glad you know how to keep track of time. Maybe I should stick you with Bucky and Steve for a couple of days and teach them how to do that,” Phil says with a chuckle as he grabs his bag.

Phil shouts a goodbye to Sam and anyone else in the house before he’s guiding Clint out of the house and into the car. It had been decided that the meeting would take place at the police station because a 12 year old shouldn’t have to go into a prison, and because of this they were allowed to bring in their own lunch including some for Barney. The drive starts off quiet before Phil puts on some light music which seems to relax Clint a bit. Eventually, they pull up to a McDonald’s just a few blocks from the police station.

“Do you know what you want, kiddo?” Phil asks as they walk into the fast food restaurant.

“M’not sure, never had it b’fore,” Clint mumbles as he tries to read the items on the board but the fluorescent light makes it hard for him to decipher the words.

“How about a Happy Meal? You get to choose either a hamburger, cheeseburger, or chicken nuggets and then it also comes with french fries, apple slices, a little dessert, and a drink plus a little toy,” Phil suggest.

“M’not a little kid, Phil,” Clint whines, however, he’s caught site of the advertised toys and Phil can see his peaked interest.

“Happy Meals are meant for kids 12 and under, which you are. But I also think it’d be a good option cause it’s slightly smaller portions, and seeing as your stomach still has some problems with foods I think that might be best for you, buddy,” Phil explains. “But if you don’t want that you can get whatever you want.”

“I guess it’s alright,” Clint sighs. “C-can I get a cheeseburger? And can we get Barney a cheeseburger, too? And maybe some fries?”   
“That sounds like a great idea, bud.”

They place their order and soon enough they’re back in the car and pulling up to the police station just as it hits noon. The two make their way into the station where they’re guided towards the back where the juvenile and family law interrogation rooms were. As they approach the room, Phil can see Nick already waiting and talking to who he can only assume is a member of the DA.

“Phil, Clint, right on time! And you’ve brought lunch, good. Much better than anything you would have gotten out of the vending machines,” Nick says as he shakes Phil’s hand and runs a hand over Clint’s hair– who is quick to shake his way out of the touch with a small scowl.

“Ah, I see the family resemblance,” the unknown man says with a chuckle.

“Phil, Clint, this is Assistant District Attorney, Antonio Vega. He’s the one that made this happen and has been working with me to help Barney on his case,” Nick explains.

“Nice to meet you, Deputy Vega,” Phil says as he shakes the man’s hand.

“Antonio is fine really, and it’s nice to meet you both as well. I feel like I know you already, Clint, with how much of a fuss your brother kicked up trying to get a hold of you,” Antonio says with a smile.

“Barney was looking for me?!” Clint asks with a beaming smile.

“Of course! Couldn’t get him to shut up about it,” Antonio says with a returned smile. “Now, his handcuffs are off, but if he crosses a line those go back on, alright?”

Clint is quick to nod his head as he begins to start bouncing on the balls of his feet. The three adults couldn’t hold back their smiles before they finally opened up the door to the room where Barney was seated on a sofa. Upon seeing the door open, Barney stands up only to be met by a charging Clint jumping into his arms.

“Oh, buddy, hey, buddy. I’ve got you, I’ve got you. I’m right here, alright? I’m so sorry, I got into this mess, but I told you I’d always be here for you. You can’t get rid of me that easily,” Barney coos as he fully lifts his too-small of a brother into his arms and just engulfs his arms around him. “I’ve missed you, kiddo. C’mon let’s sit down so I can see something that isn’t your mop of hair. I promise I’m all yours, I’m not going anywhere.”

Phil and Nick, who had entered the room with Clint, sat themselves beside the couch that Barney had been at. They listened to Barney soothe his brother for a few more minutes before finally Clint is squirming to get down from his brother’s arms, but even once he’s down he still keeps himself firmly planted to his side.

“C’mon you getting soft on me man?” Barney chuckles as he lightly pokes at the boy’s ribs, Phil needing to stop himself from pulling the boys apart so that Barney doesn’t hurt Clint’s still injured ribs but also so he doesn’t hear someone tell him crying isn’t allowed. “I know I’m the coolest person on the planet and everything, but I’m nothing to cry over.”

“M’not crying,” Clint says as he finally pulls away, subtly wiping his eyes as he pushes his brother away from him.

“Course you’re not, the light of my beauty is just making your eyes watery,” Barney chuckles as he sits down before pulling Clint down next to him, then turning to the two adults in the room. “So you must be Phil.”

“I am, yes. Phil Coulson, head of  _ Bridging the Gap Group Home _ and Clint’s primary care taker,” Phil says with a smile as he extends a hand outward.

Barney eyes the man in a scrutinizing manner before nodding to himself as he shakes the man’s hand and then turning back to his brother.

“Let’s take a look at you, huh? Alright not ugly, but still not as pretty as me. Your hair is definitely not giving the Barton name a good look. But let’s check out these new hearing aids, huh? These are nice, Birdie, very techy. Nothing’ll get past those ears now,” Barney says with a smile.

“You wish you were as good looking as me,” Clint laughs– an actual laugh that has Phil and Nick over the moon– as he punches his brother’s arm. “And at least I have hair! What happened to yours?!”

“Requested it to be shaved off, don’t know why. It just felt like what I had to do,” Barney shrugs. 

“You’re looking pretty scrawny, too,” he adds, this time with some actual concern.

Clint shrugs his shoulders as he looks towards Phil who seems to be able to read the boy’s mind.

“Well, we’ve got lunch for everyone, so I hope you’re hungry now,” Phil says as he passes out the McDonald’s meals to each person.

As Clint is given his Happy Meal he can’t help but blush a bit because he doesn’t want Barney to say anything, but no taunts make their way past his brothers lips. Just easy questions on what he’s got to eat or what toy he got as well as the offer to share some of his drink if Clint wants to some more.

There’s some casual conversation between the four of them as they all eat their food. It’s mainly Barney looking Clint over, making a couple more comments about how he’s looking  _ particularly  _ scrawny as well as questions about the type of people in the house. Eventually, though, conversation begins to die down a bit, and Nick takes this as his chance to jump in and mention some of the questions he and the DA need answered.

“Clint?” Nick starts, making sure the boy is looking at him before he starts talking. “I came in to talk with Barney on Monday after I saw you. I want to start by saying I believe you in everything you told me, alright? But if you don’t mind, I’d like for us to talk about that a little more right now.”

“But-” Clint says with a look of utter betrayal because Barney  _ wasn’t  _ supposed to know.”

“It’s to help me out, kiddo. Potentially get me out of here sooner, so I can be with you again,” Barney says before Clint can get worked up about the situation. “I’m not mad at you, birdie, so don’t even think about that cause I know you are. We just need to talk about some things that might be useful to the DA, alright?”

Clint looks from Barney to Nick before settling on Phil because for some reason Clint wants– no he  _ needs  _ to know that Phil thinks this is a good idea. When Phil nods with a smile Clint gives a shaky breath before nodding back.

“So you guys ran away from your foster home in Iowa because of the severe abuse you had each been through, yes?” Nick asks to which he gets a nod. “And just how long after that did you meet Trickshot?”

Clint flinches at the name.

“Uh, I-I think maybe 2 months after? We had been in Ohio for only a couple weeks,” Clint mumbles. 

“And then you guys stayed with him and his group for the next two years?” 

Clint nods. 

“What made you guys stay around?”

Clint’s knee had begun to bounce more and more throughout the few questions asked and eventually he began to rub and tug at his ears– a sign that Barney knew far too well. Quickly he faces Clint to him so they’re making eye contact before he reaches to turn off and take out the hearing aids. Nick and Phil look on in confusion before Barney starts to sign with his hands and Clint shakily replies back. There are a few more gestures passed back and forth before the two are looking forward again. 

“Um, m’not sure if this is allowed, but can we sign the questions and answers? I’m fluent in it, and so is Clint minus a few phrases he created when he was little that have just stuck with him. He doesn’t want to hear about the situation, but he wants to help still,” Barney asks the two men but he knows the officer outside is also listening.

A knock on the door is the only signal they need to know they can proceed as they are with the questioning.

“What kind of jobs did you work with Trickshot?” Nick asks to which Barney signs.

_ ‘Quick scams. Pickpocketing at first, but then he got a hold of some machine that let us run up credit cards and things like that.’ _

That’s how the questions went; Nick would ask, Barney would translate, Clint would answer, and then Barney would translate again with an occasional add-in here and there. The initial questions all revolved around the quick scams they were involved in and who else would partake in them. But then the questions started to get more personal, and the level of discomfort on Clint’s face began to grow.

“When was the first time Trickshot asked you to perform sexual acts?” Nick asked gently, because he could also see the tension in Barney’s figure.

As Clint began to sign his reply, a look of confusion followed by outrage crossed Barney’s face.

_ ‘When we first got to New York he told me I could help out Barney make more money if I started to pull my own jobs. He told me it could be the two of ours side project, and I could take home 30% of the profits if I started going downtown with him a couple nights a week.’ _

_ “You never told me this?! When did you do this?! I was with you most nights!”  _ Barney signed and spoke aloud as he replied.

_ ‘When you were working that fencing job. I never went, though, I got too scared. And then you started making me distance ourselves from him a couple weeks later.’ _

Nick could see Barney seething and he knew he needed to wrap up, but he still had a few questions left. 

“Were you ever given this offer again?” He asks ,to which Barney has to take a few deep breaths before he asks.

_ ‘When Barney went missing. We’d already been out of food for a couple days, so I went looking for Trickshot at the last spot we’d seen him and he was still there. I think he knew Barney got busted cause right away we went to some dingy warehouse in the meatpacking district. Everyone knew him there but he just kept taking me to the back where he set me up in a room with some other kids. They were all older than me but younger than Barney I think. Mainly girls, but some boys. They told me I had to take my clothes off and then I was just pushed back into the crowd. And then there were just a lot of hands. Everywhere.’ _

By the end of his answer there are tears once again pouring down the boy’s face before he finds himself crawling into Barney’s lap. He can feel his brother’s chest vibrating, so he knows he’s probably telling them they’re done. But right now all Clint cares about is making sure he gets to stay with his brother for as long as possible because this is what he’s missed. Since getting to the home he couldn’t tell what it was that was missing, but now sitting here in his brother’s lap he knows exactly what it is.

He’s missed the unconditional care and love that was such a rarity his whole life.

“Do you have enough because he can’t continue. I have more stories about some scams we’ve run or that he’s planned to run if you need more, but Clint’s done. He wasn’t ready to talk about all this stuff,” Barney says as he holds Clint tightly to his chest while rubbing his back.

“Yeah, yeah we’re done,” Nick says as he runs a hand over his face because just when he thinks this boy can’t be more broken, he goes and proves him wrong.

“I know it’s hard to see him cry, but this is good for him. He needs to talk about these things and get it out into the open. If he doesn’t it’ll consume him entirely,” Phil adds.    
“It might already have. Kid hasn’t been sleeping,” Barney mutters. 

“Did he tell you that?” He asks in confusion because he didn’t hear sleeping come up in conversation today.

“Doesn’t need to tell me, I’m his big brother. I know when this kid is sleep deprived and between the bags under his eyes, the clinginess, and the water works I know he’s probably been averaging maybe 10 hours of sleep a week for the past month or so. Give or take.”

“Just found out he’s been staying up all night long since he’s gotten to the house. Had I known I would have monitored him more.”   
“Wouldn’t matter. He’s good at faking. You gotta make sure he takes his hearing aids out cause that’s the only way to shut his brain off from all the thinking. He likes going on walks or runs before he sleeps, too. It helps get all the energy out of his body. Kid’s been vibrating since he got here so I know he probably hasn’t had much way of releasing energy in a while.”

“Noted, thank you,” Phil says as Antonio walks into the room. “I think this is our cue to leave if you want to say goodbye?”

“Will I get to see him again?” Barney practically pleads.

“I think another visit can be arranged. Perhaps setting up the houseline so you can call in more often, too, would work?”

Barney can’t help but smile as he nudges his brother out of his arms and gently coaxes the hearing aids back in.

“It’s time for you to go, birdie. I need you to be my tough little guy, alright? That doesn’t mean you can’t cry or talk about your feelings or whatever. It just means you’ve got to live on without me for a bit longer, okay? We’re gonna set up more visits and phone calls, and just overall we’re gonna be able to be there for one another, okay?” Barney says as he lifts his brother up to be standing and wipes away the tears from his face.

“I miss you, Barney,” Clint cries, but he stays standing rather than jumping back into his brother’s arms.

“I miss you, too, birdie, but guess what? I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me for the rest of your life. Only difference between now and the past is that you’re in a good home with a bed and three meals a day and people that care about you. I want you to behave alright? No trying to get kicked out of the house cause you’re scared or any of that shit, alright? And you gotta sleep, buddy, you’re like a walking corpse. I need you to promise you’re gonna sleep and behave?”   
“I promise,” Clints sighs before hugging his brother one more time.

It’s a long hug, but eventually they pull away– Barney pressing a kiss to the boy’s head as they pull apart. Nick guides Clint out of the room while Clint packs up some of his things.

“You’re gonna take care of him, right? He’s not gonna get bounced from your house?” Barney asks in a nervous tone.

“He’s not going anywhere. Kid’s got me wrapped around his finger, though, I’m never gonna tell him that,” Phil chuckles. “He’s gonna be okay. He’s got a long, emotional recovery rollercoaster to get through, but he’s gonna be okay.”

Barney nods with a small smile before taking a seat at the table Antonio had sat himself at to discuss further crime works Trickshot may be involved with. Just as Phil is about to exit the room though, he’s called back by one last note.

“He’s scared of the dark, too, by the way. Might be a reason why it’s hard for him to sleep,” Barney says with a sly grin.

“Noted.”


	11. Chapter 11

If you would have asked Phil if he thought it was a good idea for Clint to visit Barney he would have said no in a heartbeat. He thought that the two would pass a codeword between the two of them that would convince Clint to up and leave. Or that the little progress with Clint on behaving and expressing emotions would have been thrown away. Or even worse, he was worried Barney wouldn’t be excited to see Clint.

He was happily proven wrong, though.

In fact, since leaving the precinct, Clint’s behavior was equivalent to what it was for the past few days if not better. Once they got home, he went right to working on his homework, only stopping once everyone else got home so he could join them in the kitchen. He even joined Natasha and Pepper when they went outside to hang out.

It was so exciting to see the boy interact with the house, even if it was a bit shyly, and they all just hoped it lasted longer than the day. Phil smiled as he watched the boy sit near the girls in what seemed like a gossip circle that he was just glad to be a part of. However, Barney’s words of  _ buzzing with energy _ stuck with him, so a new idea struck him.

“Hey, Clint, you wanna come with me to pick up Thor and Steve from practice? And maybe Bucky wherever he is?” Phil asks as he sticks his head out the door.

“Uh, sure,” Clint says as he unfolds himself from the seat and makes his way towards the front door where Phil was now waiting.

The drive over to the highschool is quiet but nice, and soon they’re pulling up to the parking lot. Phil notices Bucky watching over the track practice so he assumes the boy had a detention and was just waiting for Steve and Thor to finish up practice.

“Hey, bud, so we’re actually about 20 minutes early, but there’s a playground over here if you wanna go play and run around for a bit? Or I brought a soccer ball along if you wanna kick that around?” Phil offers as the two begin to make their way towards the field.

“C-Can I go play on the playground?” Clint asks with wide, shy eyes having just noticed the play set.

“Yeah go for it, bud, I’m just gonna be waiting on these picnic tables. Please watch your wrist and ribs, though.”

And with that Clint is running off with more energy than Phil knew he was capable of possessing. He immediately makes a move for the monkey bars and easily swings himself across before flipping upside down so he could pull himself to be sitting on the bars. Phil was about to tell him that’s  _ exactly  _ what he was referring to when he said be careful, but then a familiar hand was placed on his shoulder. 

“He’s fine, Phil. He’s small, he’ll bounce,” Bucky says with a cheeky smile.

“Well if you’re so sure then you’ll have no problem going over to watch him and make sure he doesn’t bounce too hard,” Phil says with a raised brow, to which he gets an eye roll in return.

“Yeah whatever, I was going over anyways,” Bucky mumbles as he makes his way to the playset. “Bet you can’t do the monkey bars backwards!”

“Yes I can!” Clint says with furrowed brows.

“Oh yeah? Then stop sitting on the monkey bars and prove it. Forwards and then backwards.”

Clint glares at the boy as he flips back over into a normal position and easily does the bars forwards. He manages to do them backwards pretty easily until the last bar where he misjudged the distance and ended up missing. Rather than falling or dangling until he regained his balance, though, he found his lower half being held so he easily could grab the bar.

“Thanks,” Clint mumbles as he jumps down, not making eye contact with the older boy.

“You almost had it, your hair got in your eyes,” Bucky says with a smile which seems to confuse Clint a bit. “Plus, couldn’t let you fall on your butt with Phil right over there monitoring our every move.”

“I would have landed on my feet.”

“Uh huh, I’m sure you would have. 

“I bet you couldn’t do it!” Clint taunts back in frustration only for Bucky to shrug as he grabs a seat on one of the swings.

“You’ve got me there. As advanced as my prosthetic looks, it definitely isn’t advised to use it to swing my entire body weight across monkey bars,” Bucky says casually, however, Clint immediately regrets having said what he said.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” Clint replies, awkwardly fiddling with his fingers and refusing to make eye contact with the older boy. Well, that is until Bucky lightly kicked at the boy’s ankle to get him to look at him.

“Hey it’s alright, I promise my feelings aren’t hurt. It just goes to show you don’t even notice my prostheses which is kinda what I want people to treat me as. Like I’m assuming you want people to treat you like with your hearing aids. I’m sure you don’t want people speaking at like volumes 10 times too loud and overly enunciating words.”

“Yeah I guess,” Clint mumbles while grabbing the swing next to Bucky. “Why are you here still? Do you do track or football, too?”

“No I am an elite member of the always-in-detention team,” Bucky chuckles as he starts to swing himself a bit. “Most sports teams here don’t really want to accommodate themselves to someone who isn’t fully able bodied, so detention is where I get to thrive.”

Clint can’t help but scrunch up his nose at that because he didn’t really follow the logic. But also if what he’s saying is true then does that mean  _ he  _ won’t be able to do any sports or things once he went back to school because of his deafness?

“You don’t need an arm to run! You could do track or cross country. Or even like soccer since you can’t use hands for that,” Clint tries to reason.

“Not much of a fan of running. I was big into baseball before everything. They say the arm offers more strength or whatever,” Bucky replies casually.

“That sounds stupid.”

Bucky doesn’t reply after that and instead the two continue to swing for a bit. 

Clint enjoys that swing, however, it doesn’t really do anything to get the energy out of his legs. So quickly the boy jumps off the swing, runs over to Phil where he finds the discarded soccer ball before making his way back over to the playground area. He’s set on just kicking the ball back and forth to himself against one of the walls, however, Bucky once again surprises him when he also gets off the swings.

“Come on let’s go onto the side of the field,” Bucky says while nodding over to an area to the side of where the football team was practicing.

“You don’t have to play with me, you know. I can play on my own,” Clint says with half of a scowl cause he’s still not positive if Bucky is just waiting to start mocking him.

“Oh look we’re back to the angry puppy dog all excited to go and  _ play _ ,” Bucky teases before shaking his head. “I promise you, Clint, if I didn’t want to kick the soccer ball, I wouldn’t. If I didn’t want to hang out with you, I wouldn’t. But believe it or not, I’m actually on your side and I’m just trying to be a friend.”

Clint eyes the boy up and down before his scowl finally drops.

“M’sorry, not used to people being, uh, being I don’t know,” the boy trails off, not sure what he was even trying to communicate.

“On your team? Yeah don’t worry, you’re not the only one. We’ve definitely got more in common than you think, kiddo. C’mon now, though, practice is almost over and Phil won’t be keen to wait too much after that with still four other kids at home.”

And with that the two boys began to kick the ball back and forth, From a distance, Phil couldn’t help but smile at the two, but especially when he heard Clint letting out a laugh and the smile that followed suit on both boys’ faces. After about ten minutes, Phil notices the two practices going on come to an end, followed by two boys making their way over to where Clint and Bucky were hanging around.

Thor came up from behind Clint and Phil could see the flinch  _ clearly  _ from where he was seated, however, nothing seemed to evolve from that. The four kick it around just a bit more before Steve accidentally sends the ball over Clint’s head. Without even hesitating, Clint takes off after it as the three remaining boys make their way towards Phil. As they arrive at the table a sprinting Clint joins them, his breathing only slightly heavy.

“Alright, are we all ready to head home?” Phil says as he claps his hands while standing up.

“Yeah, can we get McDonald’s for dinner?” Bucky asks as he grabs his bag and makes his way towards the car.

“If you honestly tell me why you had detention today, then yes,” Phil counters. Secretly though he was going to pick up takeout anyways because apparently they were having issues with the oven at the home.

“Got called Mr Bionic, so I nicknamed someone Oscar the Grouch while throwing them into a trash can,” Bucky replies without hesitation which causes Steve and Thor to snort, Clint to giggle, and Phil biting back a smile.

“Well a deal is a deal I guess. We’ll talk about that more later, though, alright?” Phil says while opening up the car. “Someone call the house and get the rest of the orders, I’m gonna have you guys go in to order the food because I need to go to the CVS next door.”

* * *

Getting all the food and making their way back home turns out to be a much faster process than Phil expected, but soon enough everyone is piled around the bonfire outside with their bag of food settled on their laps. Apparently, Tony thought it unfair that half the house got to spend time outside, so he took it upon himself to make sure they’d get some time in the fresh air during group. 

Phil didn’t mind, he actually preferred when they had group outside because everything felt less clinical? He could never put an exact reasoning to it but whenever they have group outside, everyone just seemed to be more involved and tensions were less high. He couldn’t help but smile at Clint as the boy sat in between Thor and Steve who were both raging over the boy’s happy meal because they didn’t realize the toys that come with it are just  _ so cool _ . Phil could tell that they weren’t even playing up on the admiration because not once but twice has Thor attempted to snatch the thing, however, Clint was easily able to block it the first attempt as well as snatch it back after the second attempt.

Eventually they start up group, everyone partaking in giving their highs and lows, before continuing on with their more usual conversations. Today’s theme revolving around ambitions and planning for the future. It’s a hard topic to delve into with the group, particularly the older kids, because no one’s really sure what will happen to them once they age out. 

As much as Phil and Maria are guardians as well as parental figures to them, at the end of the day they are part of the system and technically once they turn 18 they aren’t supposed to remain in the home. Luckily so, Phil has never kicked someone out just because they turned 18. Everyone that has entered under this roof has always finished school and have been assisted in their future endeavors, but it doesn’t make it any less daunting. 

Not everyone that leaves the house ends up like Sam. Not everyone gets a scholarship for college that covers housing and their meal plan. Phil and Maria always stress that they are here to help these kids for as long as they need, but it still needs to be reminded that these are the kids that the system broke. These are the kids that the system essentially gave up on, and it’s up to Maria and Phil to put them back together and make sure that they know they have a place in this world. They like to think they succeed in doing so with most of their kids, however, there are always the few that fall through.

That’s why Phil puts so much time into Bucky. He knows if he’s not there for the kid and pushing him to do what’s best for himself, that Bucky would leave the day he turns 18. It’s why he constantly pushes to humble and keep Tony in line because if the boy had the chance the day he turns 18 he’d cash in on the inheritance his parents left for him.

It’s why Phil  _ knows _ he needs to be there for Clint at every turn in the road because Clint’s survived on his own more than most people in the house. If the boy sees an opportunity to leave, he will and he won’t hesitate if people aren’t on his side.

Most people ended up participating in group which Phil and Maria can’t help but smile about. Clint was his usual quiet self, but they weren’t shocked because this conversation might be a bit too big for him to have an input on just yet. It’s more something he needs to just hear and contemplate about. But Bucky was also quiet, and that didn’t sit too well with Phil so he knows they’re gonna need to have a longer one-on-one than usual today.

Slowly, everyone makes their way inside to hang out, finish homework, or just lounge around until their lights out notice is called. Phil had decided to just do a quick one-on-one with Clint before bed, and then once the boy was tucked in he and Bucky would meet in his office for a long session until the older boys' lights out were called. Currently Clint was laid out on the floor by the couches and TV working on his spelling and vocabulary homework while Natasha, Pepper, and Bruce watched some new Netflix show.

Phil smiled at the group, especially when he would notice Bruce leaning down to point something out to the boy only for Clint to vigorously begin erasing, re-writing, and then looking up to check with Bruce on whatever he corrected. This went on for about another 30 minutes before Clint seemed to finish up on his work only to immediately look over at Phil.

“Go on up and shower and get ready for bed, buddy. We’ll do just a small one-on-one,” Phil says.

Clint nods as he grabs his books and runs up the stairs, causing Bruce to chuckle a bit to himself.

“It’s funny having a little kid in the house,” Bruce says to answer Phil’s raised brow, which only seems to go higher. “He’s just so obedient. Like I know he’s gives attitude and I know he has his own issues, but like the rest of us fought you tooth and nail for at least the first month of us being here when it came to you giving us a bed time.”

“I say give it 2 more weeks and he’s gonna start returning that same attitude. He’s testing boundaries right now,” Natasha supplies which causes Phil to roll his eyes.

“Let’s hope not cause we all know what happens when people start boycotting their bedtimes,” Phil says with a chuckle as he makes his way up the stairs.

He rummages around in his room for a bit until he hears Clint leave the bathroom and then he waits another five minutes before going over to the boy’s room. He knocks before allowing himself in upon gaining permission and immediately smiles at the boy who’s half laid under his covers with the now familiar stuffed dog just visible on the other side of his body.

“Long day, huh, bud?” Phil starts as he pulls up the chair from Tony’s desk.

“Yeah,” Clint agrees while his fingers fiddle with the blanket. “Thanks for helping make it happen. A-and for letting me continue to reach out to him.”

“Of course, Clint. After meeting and talking to Barney, I would never want to keep you two from each other,” Phil promises. “You know, I’m really proud of you for talking about everything you did. That isn’t an easy thing to do, and not only is it something that’s going to help you but it’s also going to help Barney in being able to get out sooner than expected.”

“D-do you think if Barney gets out I’ll get to go live with him again?”

“I don’t know, buddy, if we’re being honest. If Barney manages to find a job that’ll be able to fund both you and him as well as finds you guys somewhere to live then probably. But that may take some time. Barney might have to work for a bit to save up some money before you can just go and live with him.”

“I could get a job and help him with money,” Clint offers with a hopeful look.

“Not until you’re 15 or 16, buddy. And that’s not so much the point. The point is that the state would want to make sure that  _ Barney  _ is able to care for you in all aspects. I know he can emotionally and personally support you, but they need to make sure he’ll be able to support you in having food and clothes that fit and a bed that keeps you comfortable and warm.”

“I don’t need all of that, though.”

“I know you’ve grown used to  _ not having  _ that, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t something you  _ should  _ have. That’s why until Barney can do all these things, you’re gonna be here. Where we can make sure you have food, clothes, a bed, an education that’s able to be catered towards your needs. And in the meantime, Barney’s gonna be able to continue to provide you with the emotional and personal support he’s always given you-- even if it is from a distance.”

Clint seems to contemplate everything Phil says for a while before slowly nodding his head.

“A-am I- Am I gonna have to talk about that stuff from today again?”

“Not until you’re ready to talk about everything, Clint. I am really proud of you for speaking up today, though, that wasn’t something easy to do. And now you won’t have to talk about it until  _ you  _ want to talk about it.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“And that’s okay. You don’t have to talk to me, the police, or even Nick about any of it unless you want to. I’m not gonna push you to do anything on this, but I do want to let you know that I will  _ always  _ be ready to talk with you about anything you want to discuss.”

“Wh-what if I never wanna talk about it?”

“Then it’s not something we’ll have to talk about. If that’s the case, though, might I suggest writing out your thoughts? You might not think so right now, or you might not even recognize it, but keeping things like this inside isn’t a great thing. So a lot of times just writing it all down so it’s not stuck inside you can make all the difference,” Phil offers.

“I don’t wanna anyone to read it, though,” Clint says with his brows furrowed.

“You might not trust everyone in the house just yet, but I promise no one would read your journal. Everyone in the house has one, and we’ve never had an issue before.”

Phil can see the contemplation on Clint’s face, however, he knows the boy isn’t going to be agreeing with him just yet.

“I actually have something I want to show you, which might make you more open to the idea,” Phil says while pulling out a small package. “This is a lock for your side table. The only people who will have the code for this is you and me, and I would only ever use it when we’re having room checks. You’d be able to keep your journal in there, safe from anyone tempted to look through it.”

“What’s the catch?” Clint immediately asks because he knows he wouldn’t  _ just  _ be given this, especially when none of the other boys in the room have the option.

“After you left with Nick, Barney talked to me a little bit more. And just like I am, he’s concerned about your lack of sleeping. Now I didn’t tell him anything, but he didn’t need me to because he could see on your face and in your behaviors,” Phil begins, and right away Clint is looking away. “He gave me a little bit of advice on what might get you to sleep easier, for instance letting you around a bit. I don’t know if we can do the park every day cause I don’t pick the boys up every day, but maybe a couple times a week with Sam and it’ll go towards your PE sector of classes. You can also run around the yard whenever you want, and we can try to do some walks around the block for our one-on-ones before bed if you ever want.”

“Can we do that?!” Clint asks as he starts to stand up which causes Phil to chuckle.

“Tomorrow night, bud. We’re almost done here for today,” Phil assures with a smile. “But Barney also told me some other things. For instance, making sure you take out your hearing aids.”

Almost immediately Clint’s hands were covering his ears with a look of absolute anger.

“No way!” Clint shouts.

“Clint, let’s talk about this. Not only does Barney say this is something you should be doing, but I called your doctor and even she recommended you not sleeping with them on. It isn’t good for you.”   
“I’m already deaf! What else can it do?!” Clint argues.

“You’re not fully deaf, Clint. That’s why you don’t have a cochlear implant. Your hearing could get worse and then these hearing aids wouldn’t be that efficient.”

Phil can see the gears churning in Clint’s head, so he decides to continue before Clint chooses without further encouragement.

“Listen to me, Clint. Your side table lock can also be used to hold your hearing aids at night. That way you don’t have to be scared about anyone taking them in your sleep like I’m sure was one of your fears. And as much as I want to be able to compromise with you on things, this isn’t one of those things. Your options are either you hold on to the hearing aids at night, or I take them with me each night to hold onto in my room.”

Clint looks up to Phil in shock with tears pooling in his eyes, however, Phil’s stance doesn’t change. It’s a couple more minutes, but finally Clint sniffles as he nods his head while reaching for the lock. Phil gives a sad smile as he helps the boy set it up.

“Alright, I know you normally read for 20 minutes before going to sleep for Sam, but I think it’ll be alright if we skip that tonight because you looked absolutely drained, kiddo. There’s just one more thing that Barney said might help,” Phil says as he makes his way to the other side of Clint’s bed.

Clint continues to sniffle as he watches Phil’s movements. The man crouches down in between where Clint’s desk and bed is as he removes one of the outlet coverings. Immediately Clint blushes as he sees the man plug in a rather discreet, though still noticeable, nightlight.

“I-I don’t need that,” Clint says as he reaches down to unplug it, only for Phil to stop him. “That was just Barney trying to mess with me. I-I’m not scared of the dark.”

“Clint, it’s alright to be scared of things. Like I said last night, you wouldn’t be the first person in this house to need a nightlight in their room. How about we just try it out for tonight, alright?”

With a whine of embarrassment, Clint nods his head which causes Phil to once again chuckle as he flips the switch on.

“Alright, buddy, well aids out and it’s time for bed. I want you to remember, though, you can always come wake me up if you need anything. It doesn’t even need to be because you’re scared, it can be simply because you can’t sleep, alright?” Phil offers in the most genuine tone that Clint has ever heard.

“Sure,” Clint mumbles as he slowly takes the aids out of his ears and even more slowly tucks them away in the drawer.

“Good night, Clint,” Clint is able to read Phil’s lips as he speaks.

“G’night,” he thinks he mumbles back before the lights are turned off and the only thing left for Clint to focus on is the soft blue glow coming from beside his bed.


End file.
